tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/textiles-7253/articlesTextiles – The Conversation2024-03-28T12:51:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207592024-03-28T12:51:11Z2024-03-28T12:51:11ZTweaking US trade policy could hold the key to reducing migration from Central America<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584593/original/file-20240326-28-qixbyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C53%2C2995%2C1940&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employees at the K.P. Textil textile plant in Guatemala City.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/workers-wear-face-masks-as-a-preventive-measure-against-the-news-photo/1226220586?adppopup=true">Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Small changes to U.S. trade policy <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4376016">could significantly reduce the number of migrants</a> arriving at the southern border, according to our peer-reviewed study, which was recently published in The World Economy.</p>
<p>Our research delved into the effectiveness of existing trade agreements in creating jobs in migrant-sending countries, with a focus on Central America. We analyzed the impact that the <a href="https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/cafta-dr-dominican-republic-central-america-fta">Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement</a>, or CAFTA-DR, has had on apparel exports and jobs since being ratified by the U.S. and six countries – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic – from 2005 to 2009.</p>
<p>CAFTA-DR was aimed at encouraging trade and investment ties. But restrictive provisions, particularly its <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/roi_e/roi_info_e.htm">rules of origin</a>, have hindered the region’s ability to benefit fully from the agreement. Under a “triple transformation” clause, only garments assembled in one of the countries from fabrics and constituent fibers originating from the region qualify for free-trade benefits.</p>
<p>This significantly limits the scope for trade expansion because of the limited range of fabrics produced in the region compared with the global market. For example, it means that <a href="https://sourcingjournal.com/denim/denim-mills/global-denim-market-105089/">many modern fabrics</a>, like the kinds used in some stretchy jeans, do not qualify.</p>
<p>Loosening the rules to allow for new fabrics would not only attract investment and create more jobs for Central Americans, it could also reduce immigration from the region by as much as 67%, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4376016">according to our estimates</a>. </p>
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<p>At present, about <a href="https://www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/article/ftas/central-american-emigration/">500,000 people work in the apparel industry</a> in Central America. It is labor-intensive, and expanding exports would increase employment. Our research shows that loosening the rules of origin to include new fabrics from outside the region would create about 120,000 direct jobs. </p>
<p>If a stronger relationship between exports and employment is assumed, this figure could even rise to about 257,500 jobs, our figures show. </p>
<p>And these jobs would be boosted by additional indirect employment around the expanding factories in Central America needed to accommodate the increased trade.</p>
<p>If would-be migrants in Central America instead chose the new apparel jobs in their home countries, we estimate that migration from Central America to the U.S. could fall by 30% to 67%.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The migration crisis has taken <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-border-immigration-election-c37b1596ecf27d208e94bef592e7e616">center stage in U.S. political discourse</a>, with Republicans in Congress holding up legislation, including aid to Ukraine, over their demands that tougher border security measures be included as part of any package.</p>
<p>In December 2023, the number of U.S. Border Patrol encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/15/migrant-encounters-at-the-us-mexico-border-hit-a-record-high-at-the-end-of-2023/">hit a record high</a> of almost 250,000, and it <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-releases-january-2024-monthly-update">remained high</a> during the first few months of 2024.</p>
<p>While human rights violations, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3825251">security issues</a> <a href="https://knowledgehub.transparency.org/assets/uploads/helpdesk/Literature_review_corruption_and_migrations.pdf">and corruption</a> in migrant-sending countries are often cited as driving factors, in many cases, immigrants are <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/09/08/migrants-work-permits-adams-asylum">seeking job opportunities</a> that are unavailable in their home countries. </p>
<p>But despite the increased political attention on immigration, trade policy – which could be used to address the scarcity of secure, well-paying jobs in Central American countries with heavy migrant outflows – has largely been absent from either party’s strategy to address the “root causes” of migration.</p>
<p>We believe addressing the root causes of the current border crisis requires creating good jobs in migrant-sending countries. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>We looked only at one industry – apparel – in Central America and the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean nation.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10290-014-0188-3">Academic reviews suggest</a> that as many as half of all trade agreements have no significant effect on trade flows, and only about one-quarter of them increase trade. In fact, trade agreements may even create barriers to trade by adding additional clauses that are complicated or too restrictive.</p>
<p>The key question is how to make all trade agreements more effective at creating jobs in migrant-sending countries. Identifying and relaxing barriers within trade agreements is, we believe, an important first step toward reducing emigration. </p>
<p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take on interesting academic work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In 2021, the Mosbacher Institute received funding for Bush School student research from the American Apparel and Footwear Association while Raymond Robertson was the director. The AAFA provided neither funding nor any other form of support, including any direct or indirect support, for the research described in this article.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kaleb Girma Abreha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Relaxing ‘rules of origin’ restrictions in an existing trade deal could add tens of thousands of jobs in Central America.Raymond Robertson, Professor of Economics and Government, Texas A&M UniversityKaleb Girma Abreha, Assistant Research Scientist, Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2240642024-03-14T19:24:44Z2024-03-14T19:24:44ZWhat washing machine settings can I use to make my clothes last longer?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581554/original/file-20240313-30-b0w0se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=194%2C310%2C4780%2C3135&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-accidentally-dyeing-laundry-inside-washing-236885413">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Orbiting 400 kilometres above Earth’s surface, the astronauts on the International Space Station live a pretty normal social life, if not for one thing: they happily wear their unwashed clothes <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/nasa-glenn-interns-take-space-washing-machine-designs-for-a-spin/">for days and weeks at a time</a>. They can’t do their laundry <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Keeping_your_underwear_clean_on_the_Moon">just yet</a> because water is scarce up there.</p>
<p>But down here on Earth, washing clothes is a large part of our lives. <a href="https://bigee.net/media/filer_public/2013/03/28/bigee_domestic_washing_machines_worldwide_potential_20130328.pdf">It’s estimated</a> that a volume of water equivalent to 21,000 Olympic swimming pools is used every day for domestic laundry worldwide.</p>
<p>Fibres from our clothes make their way into the environment via the air (during use or in the dryer), water (washing) and soil (lint rubbish in landfill). Most of this fibre loss is invisible – we often only notice our favourite clothing is “disappearing” when it’s too late.</p>
<p>How can you ensure your favourite outfit will outlast your wish to wear it? Simple question, complex answer.</p>
<h2>Washing machines are not gentle</h2>
<p>When you clean the filters in your washing machine and dryer, how often do you stop to think that the lint you’re holding <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-laundry-releases-microfibres-weighing-the-equivalent-of-1-500-buses-each-year-199712"><em>was</em>, in fact, your clothes</a>?</p>
<p>Laundering is harsh on our clothes, and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250346">research confirms this</a>. Several factors play a role: the type of washing machine, the washing cycle, detergents, temperature, time, and the type of fabric and yarn construction. </p>
<p>There are two types of domestic washing machines: top-loader and front-loader. Mechanical agitation (the way the machine moves the clothes around) is one of the things that helps ease dirt off the fabric.</p>
<p>Top-loaders have a vertical, bucket-like basket with a paddle, which sloshes clothes around in a large volume of water. Front-loaders have a horizontal bucket which rotates, exposing the clothes to a smaller volume of water – it takes advantage of gravity, not paddles.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581556/original/file-20240313-26-zgawjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person selecting a program on a front loader washing machine panel with buttons." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581556/original/file-20240313-26-zgawjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581556/original/file-20240313-26-zgawjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581556/original/file-20240313-26-zgawjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581556/original/file-20240313-26-zgawjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581556/original/file-20240313-26-zgawjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581556/original/file-20240313-26-zgawjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581556/original/file-20240313-26-zgawjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Washing machine programs tend to be carefully programmed to ensure minimal damage to the garments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-using-washing-machine-5591460/">RDNE Stock Project/Pexels</a></span>
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<p>Top-loading machines <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12541-010-0047-7">tend to be more aggressive</a> towards fabrics than front-loaders due to the different mechanical action and larger volumes of water. </p>
<p>Washing machine panels also present many choices. Shorter, low-temperature programs <a href="https://clevercare.info/more-eco-temperature-tips">are usually sufficient for everyday stains</a>. Choose longer or <a href="https://iprefer30.eu/animations/UK/wash-brochure-uk.pdf">high-temperature programs</a> only for clothing you have concerns about (healthcare uniforms, washable nappies, etc.).</p>
<p>Generally, washing machine programs are carefully selected combinations of water volume, agitation intensity and temperature recommended by the manufacturer. They take into consideration the type of fabric and its level of cleanliness.</p>
<p>Select the wrong program and you can say goodbye to your favourite top. For example, high temperatures or harsh agitation may cause some fibres to weaken and break, causing holes in the garment.</p>
<h2>Some fabrics lose fibres more easily than others</h2>
<p>At a microscopic level, the fabric in our clothes is made of yarns – individual fibres twisted together. The nature and length of the fibres, the way they are twisted and the way the yarns form the fabric can determine how many fibres will be lost during a wash.</p>
<p>In general, if you want to lose fewer fibres, you should wash less frequently, but some fabrics are affected more than others. </p>
<p>Open fabric structures (knits) with loose yarns <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-98836-6">can lose more fibres</a> than tighter ones. Some sports clothing, like running shirts, are made of continuous filament yarn. These fibres are less likely to come loose in the wash. </p>
<p>Cotton fibres are only a few centimetres long. Twisted tightly together into a yarn, they can still escape.</p>
<p>Wool fibres are also short, but have an additional feature: scales, which make wool clothes much more delicate. Wool fibres can come loose like cotton ones, but also tangle with each other during the wash due to their scales. This last aspect is what causes wool garments to shrink when <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/004051756403400303">exposed to heat</a> and agitation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581557/original/file-20240313-22-s1rv88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A tangle of white fibres in a loose web." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581557/original/file-20240313-22-s1rv88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581557/original/file-20240313-22-s1rv88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581557/original/file-20240313-22-s1rv88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581557/original/file-20240313-22-s1rv88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581557/original/file-20240313-22-s1rv88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581557/original/file-20240313-22-s1rv88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581557/original/file-20240313-22-s1rv88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cotton fibres under a microscope, magnified 100 times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fibres-under-microscope-100x-1013172277">Dr. Norbert Lange/Shutterstock</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/laundry-is-a-top-source-of-microplastic-pollution-heres-how-to-clean-your-clothes-more-sustainably-217072">Laundry is a top source of microplastic pollution – here's how to clean your clothes more sustainably</a>
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<h2>Go easy on the chemicals</h2>
<p>The type of detergent and other products you use also makes a difference.</p>
<p>Detergents contain a soap component, enzymes to make stains easier to remove at low temperature, and fragrances. Some contain harsher compounds, such as bleaching or whitening agents.</p>
<p>Modern detergents are very effective at <a href="https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/laundry-and-cleaning/laundry-detergents/review-and-compare/laundry-detergents">removing stains such as food</a>, and you don’t need to use much.</p>
<p>An incorrect choice of wash cycles, laundry detergent and bleaching additives could cause disaster. Certain products, like bleach, can <a href="https://site.extension.uga.edu/textiles/textile-basics/understand-your-fibers/">damage some fibres like wool and silk</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, research on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120366872?via%3Dihub">fabric softeners and other treatments</a> <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0233332&type=printable">continues</a> – there’s no one-size-fits-all answer about their potential impact on our clothes.</p>
<h2>Just skip laundry day</h2>
<p>So, how to ensure your clothes last longer? The main tip is to wash them less often.</p>
<p>When it’s time for a wash, carefully read and follow the care labels. In the future, our washing machines will <a href="https://www.teknoscienze.com/tks_article/trends-in-laundry-by-2030/">recognise fabrics and select the wash cycle</a>. For now, that’s our responsibility.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-your-clothes-last-longer-its-good-for-your-bank-account-and-the-environment-too-201823">How to make your clothes last longer – it's good for your bank account and the environment too</a>
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<p>And the next time you throw your shirt into the dirty laundry basket, stop. Think of the astronauts orbiting above Earth and ask yourself: if they can go without clean laundry for a few days, maybe I can too? (Although we don’t recommend just burning your dirty undies, either.)</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandra Sutti has received research funding from the Australian Research Council, the Marine Bioproducts Cooperative Research Centre, the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre and by companies participating in associated projects such as the ARC Research Hub for Functional and Sustainable Fibres and the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Green Chemistry, as well as from industry partners associated with these grants, such as HeiQ Pty Ltd, Xefco Pty Ltd, C. Sea Solutions Pty Ltd (trading as ULUU) and Simba Global Pty/Ltd. Alessandra is a paid member of the HeiQ Innovation Advisory Board, is a member of the American Chemical Society and serves as a volunteer member on Standards Australia ME-009 Committee (Microplastics). She collaborates closely with The GLOBE Program (through GLOBE Italy), The University of California Berkeley and San Francisco State University, co-developing microplastics monitoring protocols and is involved in environmental education programmes.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amol Patil is engaged at the ARC Research Hub for Functional and Sustainable Fibres, a collaboration between Deakin University, the Australian Research Council and industry partners such as Simba Global Pty Ltd, Xefco Pty Ltd, HeiQ Pty Ltd, and Sea Solutions P/L (trading as ULUU). He is also working on a joint project sponsored by HeiQ-Marine bioproducts (MBCRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maryam Naebe is the recipient of Discover Natural Fibre Initiative Innovation Award. She has received funding through competitive grants and industry projects including Australian Research Council ARC Research Hub, ARC Discovery Project, Australian Wool Innovation, Cotton Research and Development Corporation, Cotton Incorporated (USA), Ford Motor Company (USA).
</span></em></p>Next time you do your laundry, think like an astronaut – wash your clothes as little as possible.Alessandra Sutti, Associate Professor, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin UniversityAmol Patil, Reseach Engineer, Deakin UniversityMaryam Naebe, Associate professor, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2242932024-03-11T13:10:43Z2024-03-11T13:10:43ZThree ways your wardrobe could help you avoid fast fashion<p>Think about the clothes you are wearing right now. How long have you had them? How often do you wear them? Like me, you’re probably wearing favourites that you always reach for, despite having <a href="https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/citizen-insights-clothing-longevity-and-circular-business-models-receptivity-uk">a wardrobe stuffed with rarely worn clothes</a>. </p>
<p>But still, you might feel the irresistible urge to buy more. In high-income countries, <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1952/report-summary.html">overconsumption</a> of clothing contributes to the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9">climate crisis</a> throughout the accelerating cycle of fashion, from production and distribution to <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/blog/54589/how-fast-fashion-is-fuelling-the-fashion-waste-crisis-in-africa/">mountains of barely worn clothing waste</a>. It might be true that <a href="https://hotorcool.org/unfit-unfair-unfashionable/">the most sustainable clothes are the ones we already own</a>, but has the industry convinced you that’s boring? </p>
<p>Caring about what’s inside your wardrobe, while resisting the urge to buy more clothes, might be more fun than you think. As part of my PhD research into what our relationships with our clothes might mean for sustainability in fashion, I’ve been experimenting with these simple and positive ways to reconnect with clothing:</p>
<h2>1. Put pen to paper</h2>
<p>In 2018, campaign group <a href="https://www.fashionrevolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/FashRev_LoveStory_18.pdf">Fashion Revolution</a> encouraged supporters to write a love story about their most-loved garment. Writing about your clothes can uncover <a href="https://wornstories.com/books/">personal stories</a>, gaps in your knowledge and a deeper understanding of why you wear <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2022.2100481">what you wear</a>.</p>
<p>I have written poems about some of my clothes and started to write break-up letters to each garment that leaves my wardrobe. It’s a mindful process that reminds me of places I’ve been and people I’ve met in a much more vivid way than scrolling through photos on my phone. </p>
<p>A recent break-up letter to a rarely worn jacket helped me to pinpoint exactly why I wasn’t wearing it, and hopefully will ensure I don’t repeat the same mistake. </p>
<p>Whenever I have invited people to write about their clothes, either at public events or during workshops that form part of my PhD, I’ve been surprised by how willingly they share their stories and the positive actions the writing has inspired. Some people have talked about digging garments out of wardrobes to be worn again and others have found better ways to dispose of unwearable clothes. </p>
<h2>2. Daily stitches</h2>
<p>On average, <a href="https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/citizen-insights-clothing-longevity-and-circular-business-models-receptivity-uk">each person wears just 74% of their wardrobe</a> and a <a href="https://hotorcool.org/unfit-unfair-unfashionable/">recent report</a> suggested a wardrobe size of just 85 items in order to limit carbon emissions and <a href="https://theconversation.com/global-heating-may-breach-1-5-c-in-2024-heres-what-that-could-look-like-220877">stay within 1.5°C warming</a>.</p>
<p>Curious about the size of my own wardrobe, I did a thorough check and counted 205 garments. I <a href="https://clothingresearch.oslomet.no/2024/01/15/an-arts-practice-approach-to-wardrobe-audits/">began to log</a> which ones I wear by hand sewing a stitch into each garment worn that day, using a different colour thread each season to create a visual marker. </p>
<p>At a glance, I can see which garments I’m wearing, how regularly and at which times of the year. I can more easily decide which clothes to keep, know where the gaps are in my wardrobe and choose the clothes I can part with. </p>
<p>This is just one form of <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/wardrobe-tracking">wardrobe tracking</a>, an activity that’s gaining popularity in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/jan/05/how-digitally-tracking-clothes-fashion-consumption-taking-off-online">digital form</a> with <a href="https://whering.co.uk/">apps</a> and <a href="https://hubbub.org.uk/off-the-hanger">online campaigns</a> that help people to track their wearing habits.</p>
<h2>3. Wardrobe portraits</h2>
<p>Making drawings of my clothes helps me notice overlooked details and understand what a garment means to me on a personal level. </p>
<p>While drawing one <a href="https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/c3riimpact/wendy-ward-researcher-blog-a-fashion-for-keeping/">recent picture</a> of a favourite jacket, the fluff of a forgotten jumper caught in the velcro reminded me to wear that jumper again. And once, carefully mapping the creases in a pair of leather gloves that used to be my dad’s, I noticed how the leather had moulded to the shape of his hands and I feel like he’s holding my hands whenever I wear them.</p>
<p>Drawing has long been used to study historical finds and museum collections, often exposing <a href="https://doi.org/10.3366/cost.2020.0164">undocumented details</a>. But if drawing isn’t your thing, most of us have a camera in our pocket. Take a beautiful photograph of your favourite garment or document your fashion revelations on Instagram. </p>
<p>At a garment drawing workshop I hosted in 2022 in the testing phase of my PhD, the small group of volunteers shared stories and noticed new things about their clothes that had previously been overlooked. Some suddenly saw the potential for easy repairs that could make a garment wearable again.</p>
<p>What’s the point of a slowly crafted, organic, recycled garment if nobody wants to wear, keep and love it? Perhaps reconnecting with unworn clothes lurking at the back of your wardrobe could inspire you to wear them again or let them go to someone else while freeing up some much-needed storage space. The key to sustainable fashion could already be inside your wardrobe. </p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Ward does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Every wardrobe tells a story and reconnecting with the clothes you already own could reduce your need to buy more fast fashion. Here are three ways to fall back in love with your wardrobe.Wendy Ward, PhD Candidate, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2214952024-02-07T19:17:23Z2024-02-07T19:17:23ZHow First Nations artists are reclaiming colonial objects and celebrating culture through garments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570281/original/file-20240119-29-mkg6j4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4019%2C3011&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Treena Clark</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years back, I started collecting <a href="https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/387828">vintage Australian tourist scarves</a> that portray First Nations people as primitive caricatures and noble savages. Now, I own more than ten scarves with images ranging from Western depictions of First Nations art and objects, to Indigenous people in tokenistic scenes.</p>
<p>Collecting these tourist wares isn’t new. Kitsch items are often <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-politics-of-aboriginal-kitsch-73683">gathered and reclaimed</a> by First Nations peoples, artists, designers and academics.</p>
<p>My fascination with kitsch scarves involves wearing them as outfits, which I recently did at the Darwin <a href="https://www.ifp.org.au/events/country-to-couture/">Country to Couture</a> runway show. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573946/original/file-20240207-32-6mio03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573946/original/file-20240207-32-6mio03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573946/original/file-20240207-32-6mio03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573946/original/file-20240207-32-6mio03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573946/original/file-20240207-32-6mio03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573946/original/file-20240207-32-6mio03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573946/original/file-20240207-32-6mio03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573946/original/file-20240207-32-6mio03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I wore one of my kitsch scarves to a runway show as a creative response to my academic work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Treena Clark</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I did so as a creative response to my academic work on First Nations fashion, art and style and to engage with the practice of First Nations garmenting – the use of clothing and adornment as art.</p>
<h2>Aboriginalia and Koori Kitsch</h2>
<p>Artists such as Destiny Deacon and Tony Albert use several names to describe items with Western depictions of First Nations people, art and objects, including Koori Kitsch and Aboriginalia. </p>
<p>You can find these depictions in souvenirs and bric-a-brac in the form of tea towels, tablecloths, postcards, ashtrays, dolls, scarves, badges and patches.</p>
<p>Destiny Deacon (KuKu/Erub/Mer) has used Koori Kitsch objects for decades. In one work titled <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/146112/">Border Patrol (2006)</a>, Deacon photographs a white doll atop a tea towel featuring Australian landmarks, plants, animals and Aboriginal people hunting. </p>
<p>Tony Albert’s (Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji) art often features <a href="https://theconversation.com/tony-alberts-politically-charged-kitsch-collection-confronts-our-racist-past-97696">vintage souvenir ashtrays and textiles</a>. Albert has been credited with creating the term “<a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2017/29819/">Aboriginalia</a>” to describe the portrayal of Western stereotypes of First Nations peoples and cultures in kitsch items.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BWwlxA7FPDS/?hl=en","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://kaitjames.com/work.html">Kait James</a> (Wadawurrung) has decolonised vintage souvenir towels through embroidered embellishments to highlight their problematic designs and reclaim them as First Nations art. James recently also disrupted the Barbie doll by creating a custom Aboriginal flag dress and banner saying “Faboriginal Barbie”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv1R3CyLUID","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>In Kayla Dickens’ (Wiradjuri) 2022 exhibition, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-26/karla-dickens-interview-return-to-sender-carriageworks/100780016">Return to Sender</a>, collage backdrops featured enlarged vintage postcards with superimposed images, symbols and text interrogating colonisation and colonial sexual exploitation.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CYm4JyxNNml/?hl=en","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>First Nations garmenting</h2>
<p>First Nations peoples are also using Aboriginalia within fashion. Paul McCann (Marrithiyel) has embellished couture outfits with vintage textiles depicting First Nations peoples, animals and plants. </p>
<p>One of McCann’s designs at the 2022 Australian Fashion Week, Blinged Out Warrior, disrupted a kitsch item of an Aboriginal man by placing it front and centre on a bedazzled top. This form of work, termed “<a href="https://madmuseum.org/exhibition/garmenting-costume-contemporary-art">garmenting</a>”, emphasises contemporary artists’ use of clothes in their pieces.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CdkuzayLE7l/?hl=en","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>While Aboriginalia and Koori Kitsch are popular terms, First Nations garmenting is a recent definition yet to reach mainstream use. It’s an emerging trend adopted by many First Nations artists whose work is interested in confronting or reshaping history, highlighting the current world, or imagining a new future. </p>
<p>This could look like creating modern versions of traditional pieces, or critiquing and talking back to colonial clothing forced upon First Nations peoples. Several artists also create works that reflect contemporary protest wear, or futuristic pieces that depict fantasies or predict trends.</p>
<p>Peter Waples-Crowe’s (Ngarigo) <a href="https://citymag.indaily.com.au/culture/partnership-culture/feeling-proud-with-peter-waples-crowe/">Ngarigo Queen – Cloak of queer visibility</a> (2018) features a reworked possum skin cloak with rainbow colours and a train to reference his two identities of Aboriginal and queer.</p>
<p>Kelly Koumalatsos (Wergaia/Wemba Wemba) uses possum fur as a stamp to create cultural fabrics. Significant works use these fabrics to form colonial and Western outfits that speak back to colonisation. </p>
<p>When displaying her garments in galleries, Koumalatsos also includes old family portraits within the works to further contextualise the forced colonial clothes.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CI2lb9HlkgJ/?img_index=0","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nsmithgallery.com/artists/53-kyra-mancktelow/overview/">Kyra Mancktelow</a> (Quandamooka) specialises in creating garments in sculptural or print form to interrogate colonial histories of forced Western clothing and the removal of cultural wear. The items she recreates range from forced military jackets, to outfits worn in missions, to contemporary forms referencing the history of activism.</p>
<p>Carly Tarkari Dodd’s (Kaurna/Narungga/Ngarrindjeri) exhibition, <a href="https://www.mutualart.com/Exhibition/Carly-Tarkari-Dodd--Royal-Jewels/4CA24E4E9971C35E">Royal Jewels</a> (2022), showcased Indigenised versions of jewellery pieces owned by the English royal family. Using cultural weaving techniques to replicate the English monarch’s jewellery collection, Dodd confronts colonisation by turning the tables and inspiring truth-telling about this country’s history. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cexw42ZJPNE/?hl=en","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>The artist <a href="https://www.charlotteallingham.com/">Coffinbirth</a> (Charlotte Allingham, Wiradjuri/Ngiyampaa) illustrates designs featuring First Nations people in unique outfits across time. Coffinbirth notably reimages or recreates First Nations culture or issues through pop-culture graphics and comic-style art.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/By6rlzWFnFC/?hl=en","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Dennis Golding (Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay) <a href="https://nit.com.au/15-01-2024/9303/dennis-golding-offers-lessons-in-finding-power-and-pride-with-new-the-future-is-here-exhibition">creates hand-painted superhero capes</a> to celebrate the power of First Nations identity. He often works with young First Nations people to develop their own versions.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C18upPPpB3d/?hl=en","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Disrupting, reclaiming and Indigenising</h2>
<p>Many First Nations people have an inherent need to expel harmful histories and channel cultural practices creatively.</p>
<p>This can be through artists exhibiting their works, fashion designers telling their stories, or everyday First Nations people who like to practise culture through outfits. When First Nations artists use colonial souvenirs and garments, they can disrupt colonisation and celebrate their culture.</p>
<p>Wearing my kitsch scarves means I join a distinguished group of First Nations artists who use these objects and clothing within their works and creative expressions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-look-at-the-long-history-of-first-nations-fashion-design-in-australia-219328">A brief look at the long history of First Nations fashion design in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221495/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Treena Clark has received funding through the University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellowship scheme.</span></em></p>Colonial settlers made myriad objects with problematic portrayals of First Nations people. Now, a number of artists are using these objects in their work to retell these stories.Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2181402024-01-03T13:13:02Z2024-01-03T13:13:02ZSchool uniforms may trigger sensory overload in kids who are sensitive to fabrics – our research can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563331/original/file-20231204-29-a7dx3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children who experience sensory overload struggle with many items of clothing, including school shirts.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">macniak</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people live with what’s known as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/overresponsiveness">sensory over-reactivity or over-responsiveness</a>. Those with this condition experience an over-reaction to sensory stimuli, such as touch. When overstimulated, the brain <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/9/7/153">triggers a fight-or-flight response</a>, which can lead to irritability, withdrawing from people, and temper tantrums.</p>
<p>Over time individuals can learn to manage this condition, but children often struggle. This can significantly affect their daily lives, from morning routines to school work and participation in sports. Although anyone can experience these challenges, they are particularly prevalent in children diagnosed with conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2001.tb00228.x">ADHD</a>) and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-019-04180-0">autism spectrum disorders</a>. </p>
<p>Clothing plays a role in worsening these sensory issues because it remains in constant contact with the skin, providing sensory input. While it is acknowledged in research <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-021-05140-3">literature</a> and by <a href="https://www.theottoolbox.com/clothing-sensitivity-red-flags/#:%7E:text=Clothing%20Sensory%20Issues,-Depending%20on%20preferences&text=Certain%20textures%20can%20feel%20uncomfortable,or%20hairy%20textures%20on%20sweaters">practitioners like occupational therapists</a> that items and elements like socks, shoes, seams and labels are major triggers, research in this area is limited. This is likely due to people underestimating the effects of these seemingly minor everyday elements.</p>
<p>It is important to study clothing items to pinpoint the triggers for sensory over-stimulation. These answers can assist in developing clothing that’s comfortable for every child. By combining the expertise of two distinct disciplines – clothing & textiles and occupational therapy – our multidisciplinary team has initiated a research project focused on exploring the diverse elements inherent in clothing and textiles and their relationship to sensory irritation.</p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>The team’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0887302X231187777">first study focused on school uniforms</a>. Occupational therapists, teachers and parents of children with sensory over-reactivity participated in four focus groups. These were virtual meetings, as we started collecting data during the COVID pandemic. </p>
<p>Sample packs of different seams and fabric swatches typically found in school uniforms were compiled and couriered to participants across South Africa to help prepare them for the discussions.</p>
<p>One of our findings was that the collar of a typical school shirt (a collar with a stand) causes irritation, especially if the top button is fastened and worn with a tie. The main reason for this is that they feel restricted and that the clothes are in very close contact with the skin. Parents also mentioned that children often preferred second-hand school uniforms, which they experienced as softer and more tolerable than new items. Pilling – balls of fluff that form on the surface of textiles – can be very intolerable. However, it can easily be removed with a bobble-off device; these are sold at most pharmacies. In all cases, among the participants, labels were removed or completely unpicked from garments.</p>
<p>Apart from providing rich data about clothing and textiles, the study revealed the effect of the clothing on the participation of a child in their daily activities (such as education). </p>
<p>One participant said of her child:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When she was in class, with her uniform on, she was very distracted, because she constantly stood up and had to sort out her clothes and sit down again.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was also highlighted that children are often misunderstood or wrongly labelled as disobedient when, in reality, the issue could be as simple as <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2263/90419">discomfort caused by the school uniform</a>. One parent said of their child: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Teachers had tagged or labelled him as disruptive or, as the one teacher even wrote on the board, that this child is ill-mannered.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Through our research it became apparent that this issue extended beyond the child to affect parents, caregivers and siblings. Many parents expressed feelings of guilt, fear and constant uncertainty. An everyday task, such as dressing their child in the morning, could badly disrupt family life.</p>
<h2>Simple interventions help</h2>
<p>The good news is that simple interventions can make a substantial, positive difference. Awareness of these realities should be highlighted and interventions should focus on improving outcomes not just for the child but for their entire family. </p>
<p>Teachers should be trained to manage sensory over-reactivity in the classroom. They should understand the importance of allowing exceptions in clothing rules for children who experience difficulties in tolerating existing uniforms.</p>
<p>School management should consider modifying school uniform policies to meet everyone’s needs. </p>
<p>Clothing retailers also have a crucial role to play by sensitising designers, developers and buyers to prioritise comfort. </p>
<p>More comfortable clothing would not disadvantage anyone – in fact it could benefit everyone.</p>
<h2>More to come</h2>
<p>Currently our research team is focusing on underwear and socks, since these are big culprits of sensory irritation. We are also conducting a separate analysis on the tactile properties of various textiles used in children’s wear. In future we would also like to look at sportswear and how clothing might affect participation.</p>
<p><em>The school uniform study was co-authored by Masters student Wenette Jordaan and Leoné Gouws, also a Masters student, is a co-author of the underwear study.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The work is based on the research supported wholly/ in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Number: 129842).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karin van Niekerk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is important to study clothing items to pinpoint the triggers for sensory over-stimulation.Lizette Diedericks, Lecturer, University of PretoriaKarin van Niekerk, Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2163042023-11-15T23:14:16Z2023-11-15T23:14:16ZWhat designers can do to make textiles healthier for people and the planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555594/original/file-20230927-29-m4ke9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C994%2C720&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The glamourous aspect of fashion obscures the health and socio-environmental issues of the textile industry.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwp0Bx0awoE">pollution caused by the textile industry</a> is often discussed, but its <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30278363/">impact on health</a> is less emphasized. Nevertheless, the petrochemical compounds used in the manufacturing of our clothes have harmful effects on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onD5UOP5z_c">workers</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxVq_38BoPE">surrounding communities</a>, and <a href="http://www.cec.org/files/documents/publications/11777-furthering-understanding-migration-chemicals-from-consumer-products-en.pdf">consumers</a>. This issue has a <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-international-stateless/2012/11/317d2d47-toxicthreads01.pdf">global impact</a>, but its assessment is complex due to our low chronic exposure to a <a href="https://www.leslibraires.ca/livres/perturbateurs-endocriniens-la-menace-invisible-marine-jobert-9782283028179.html">“cocktail” of synthetic substances</a> whose cause-and-effect relationships are difficult to identify.</p>
<p>Moreover, most of these substances prove to be toxic through interaction or degradation, as is the case with <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/chemical-substances/substance-groupings-initiative/aromatic-azo-benzidine-based.html">azo dyes</a> that are ubiquitous and persistent in the environment.</p>
<p>Through my research in sustainable textile design, I explore how design can contribute to making the textile industry more environmentally friendly, focusing on raising ecological awareness among designers, decision-makers, and the general public.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551518/original/file-20231002-15-cu6ppt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="textile dyes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551518/original/file-20231002-15-cu6ppt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551518/original/file-20231002-15-cu6ppt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551518/original/file-20231002-15-cu6ppt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551518/original/file-20231002-15-cu6ppt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551518/original/file-20231002-15-cu6ppt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551518/original/file-20231002-15-cu6ppt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551518/original/file-20231002-15-cu6ppt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dyes made from agri-food waste and inspired by Pantone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Vanessa Mardirossian)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Design-led solutions</h2>
<p>In the 1960s, designer <a href="https://papanek.org/archivelibrary/victor-papanek/">Victor Papanek</a> was the first to address <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/190560.Design_for_the_Real_World">environmental issues related to industrial product design</a>. Meanwhile, biologist <a href="https://www.rachelcarson.org/silent-spring">Rachel Carson</a> initiated the emergence of ecological consciousness, shedding light on the profound impact of human activity on the environment. </p>
<p>Then in the 1990s, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/basics-green-chemistry">green chemistry</a> facilitated collaboration between design and biology to develop <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1278402">ecological textiles</a>. Aligned with <a href="https://mcdonough.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Hannover-Principles-1992.pdf">The Hannover Principles</a>, these textiles aimed to enhance waste management and preserve water purity. Intending to harmonize the interdependence between human activity and the natural world by eliminating toxic inputs at their source, these principles also gave rise to the “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780865475878/cradletocradle">Cradle to Cradle</a>” ecodesign philosophy that popularized the concept of circular design in the early 2000s.</p>
<h2>An inspired approach from nature</h2>
<p>Humanity has always drawn inspiration from nature to create. </p>
<p>However, in the late 20th century, biologist <a href="https://biomimicry.org/janine-benyus/">Janine Benyus</a> invited us to <a href="https://biomimicry.org">observe the operating mechanisms of living organisms</a>, encouraging a reevaluation of manufacturing processes through <a href="https://biomimicry.org/chapterone/">biomimicry</a> — a concept that draws inspiration from nature’s designs and processes to create more sustainable technologies.</p>
<p>Could we, for example, produce dyes at room temperature and without toxic molecules? This approach leads to a shared reflection between design, science and engineering. This multidisciplinary vision of design, where ecology, medicine, and politics play a role in the design process to better meet the needs of society, was already advocated by Papanek in 1969.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551520/original/file-20231002-30-2h1680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="diagram" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551520/original/file-20231002-30-2h1680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551520/original/file-20231002-30-2h1680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551520/original/file-20231002-30-2h1680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551520/original/file-20231002-30-2h1680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551520/original/file-20231002-30-2h1680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551520/original/file-20231002-30-2h1680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551520/original/file-20231002-30-2h1680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Concept of ‘minimal design,’ by Victor Papanek.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Diagram taken from the work of Victor Papanek)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Developing ecological literacy</h2>
<p>In 1990, educator <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/lled3662017/files/2017/08/Orr_Environmental-Literacy-Ecoliteracy.pdf">David Orr</a> introduced the concept of ecoliteracy to address a major gap in traditional education, centered on humans and ignoring their interconnectedness with nature. He advocated for environmental education to develop a sense of belonging to one’s living environment and establish production models that promote the resilience of ecosystems. This concept helps to understand the intricate connections between human activities and ecological systems, to foster a sense of responsibility and informed decision-making.</p>
<p>In the 2000s, fashion design researcher <a href="https://katefletcher.com">Kate Fletcher</a> supported the development of this ecological literacy to help stakeholders in the industry (designers, consumers and manufacturers) understand the implicit interconnection of industrial and living systems, showing that fashion maintains a vital relationship with nature. </p>
<p>Then, in 2018, the sustainable design researcher <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/design-ecology-politics-9781350258778/">Joanna Boehnert </a>emphasized that ecological literacy not only promotes the development of new, more sustainable ways of producing, but also broadens our social, political, and economic vision to systemically address transdisciplinary sustainability challenges. </p>
<p>This is also supported by biologist Emmanuel Delannoy who offers a <a href="http://permaeconomie.fr/author/edelannoy">permaeconomy</a> model, blending permaculture and economics to establish a symbiotic relationship between economic systems and the natural environment, fostering resilience and prompting a reevaluation of our connection with living organisms</p>
<h2>A colourful heritage to rediscover</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://hexagram.ca/fr/qu-est-ce-que-la-recherche-creation/">research-creation</a> proposes a critical reflection on textile dyeing. </p>
<p>This field of investigation leads me to explore colouring beyond its aesthetic to raise ecological, economic and pedagogical questions. </p>
<p>While the glamourous aspect of fashion obscures the health and socio-environmental issues of the textile industry, I direct my thinking toward a more global understanding of dyeing, including its origins, manufacturing methods and interactions with living organisms. </p>
<p>I explore the development of non-toxic dyes by studying, on one hand, literature on <a href="https://www.belin-editeur.com/le-monde-des-teintures-naturelles">natural dyes since prehistory</a>, and, on the other hand, by meeting experts in the field such as scientific historian <a href="https://www.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/download-file/CardonD.pdf">Dominique Cardon</a> or ecoliterate artisan <a href="https://fibershed.org/staff-board/">Rebecca Burgess</a>, founder of the <a href="https://fibershed.org">Fibershed</a> concept, which aims to produce biodegradable clothing in a limited geographical space. </p>
<p>I also study field practices, including those of the Textile Laboratory of <a href="https://www.luma.org/arles/atelierluma.html">Atelier Luma</a>, which works at the intersection of ecology, textiles and regional economic development. </p>
<p>And, I keep an eye on <a href="https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/textiles-and-materials/postgraduate?collection=ual-courses-meta-prod&query=!nullquery&start_rank=1&sort=relevance&f.Subject-test%7Csubject=Textiles%20and%20materials&f.Course%20level%7Clevel=Postgraduate">design education programs </a>that offer an art-science approach where deep ecology is integrated into the design process. </p>
<h2>Symbiosis between nature and the textile industry</h2>
<p>Additionally, in the <a href="https://speculativelifebiolab.com/2022/04/03/cooking-and-culturing-colour-part-iv/">research laboratory</a> where I work, I experiment with the intersection of traditional and prospective dyeing recipes.</p>
<p>Inspired by the concept of <a href="https://www.scirp.org/(S(lz5mqp453edsnp55rrgjct55))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=1999041">industrial ecology</a> (precursor of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/conservation/sustainability/circular-economy.html">circular economy</a>), that values the waste of one industry as resources for another, I use <a href="https://www.lapresse.ca/societe/mode-et-beaute/2021-03-30/quand-les-dechets-se-melent-de-la-mode.php">agri-food waste</a> as a colouring source, combined with the use of <a href="https://hexagram.ca/en/demo2-vanessa-mardirossian-the-culture-of-color-an-ecoliteracy-of-textile-design/">pigment-producing bacteria</a> to expand the colour palette. </p>
<p>Thus, tannins from various waste materials can be used in dye recipes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551537/original/file-20231002-25-qtiisx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="bits of coloured fabric" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551537/original/file-20231002-25-qtiisx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551537/original/file-20231002-25-qtiisx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551537/original/file-20231002-25-qtiisx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551537/original/file-20231002-25-qtiisx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551537/original/file-20231002-25-qtiisx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551537/original/file-20231002-25-qtiisx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551537/original/file-20231002-25-qtiisx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fabric dyed from waste and bacteria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Vanessa Mardirossian)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But colouring a textile is only the visible part of the iceberg, as fibre preparation takes place upstream to ensure the colour’s resistance to light and washing, known as “mordanting.” Whether the fibre is animal or vegetable, different mordants will be used. </p>
<p>This expertise acquired iteratively between theory, prototyping, and results analysis contributes to gaining “textile ecoliteracy.” Coupled with a knowledge of biology, this allows for understanding the deleterious interactions between the material and living worlds. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the synthesis of ecoliteracy and biomimicry concepts has led me to reflect on a macro-vision of the fashion industry ecosystem, and to consider the concept of “textile ecoliteracy” as a means to deploy a network of intersectoral collaborations between design, health, education, and industry. </p>
<p>My research aims to show that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175693810X12774625387594">textile materiality must harmonize symbiotically with natural ecosystems</a> so that both parties benefit from their interaction.</p>
<p>In conclusion, the textile industry’s environmental and health impacts necessitate urgent attention and innovative solutions. This article has delved into the historical context, explored interdisciplinary approaches, and proposed the concept of “textile ecoliteracy” as a collaborative means to address these challenges. </p>
<p>By focusing on sustainable design, education, and the utilization of innovative practices, designers can play a pivotal role in reshaping the industry. The synthesis of ecological awareness and biomimicry principles highlights the potential for a harmonious coexistence between textile materiality and natural ecosystems. </p>
<p>As we move forward, fostering a symbiotic relationship between the textile industry and the environment is not just a choice but a collective responsibility — one that promises a healthier future for both people and the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216304/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vanessa Mardirossian is a member of Acfas, Hexagram and Concordia University's Textiles & Materiality and Critical Practices in Material and Materiality research laboratories. She has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Concordia University and Université du Québec à Montréal.</span></em></p>The production, use and end-of-life of clothing all have an impact on our health. But greater ecological awareness could turn the tide.Vanessa Mardirossian, PhD Candidate and educator in sustainable fashion, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112912023-08-30T13:38:58Z2023-08-30T13:38:58ZKofi Ansah left Ghana to become a world famous fashion designer - how his return home boosted the industry<p>In the 1950s and 1960s, young Africans were assisted financially by their governments to study in western countries in the hope they would return to contribute to nation <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315623399">building</a>. Individuals who qualified abroad and returned home formed the educated elites of immediate post-independent <a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1374329">Africa</a>. </p>
<p>Over the years, the demography of such migrants has changed to include professionals who after graduation at home move abroad in search of employment and remain there <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136%2Fbmj.331.7519.780-b">permanently</a>. This loss of human talent and skills – the “brain drain” – is arguably one of Africa’s key developmental <a href="https://suraadiq.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Skills-for-science-systems-in-Africa.pdf">challenges</a>. </p>
<p>The migration of highly skilled professionals such as doctors, nurses, engineers and academics from Africa has serious economic, political and social implications for <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/cef9a0e6f56bf9de0d6683c52c60c2c7/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&c%20bl=2026366&diss=y.">development</a>.</p>
<p>But there is another side to the migration of skilled people. That is “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.12198">brain gain</a>” – the return migration of professionals – and “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/brain-circulation-how-high-skill-immigration-makes-everyone-better-off/">brain circulation</a>” – temporary migration of professionals between countries. This is not well documented, especially in the case of African countries. </p>
<p>This is the gap we sought to fill, using a case study of the late Ghanaian fashion designer, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2023.2236563">Kofi Ansah</a>. </p>
<p>Ansah’s impact on Ghanaian fashion was immense because of the timing and context of his return in 1992. He had built a successful career for 20 years in the UK and the future looked <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2023.2236563">promising</a>. On the other hand, the country he returned to was undergoing profound political and economic transformation. Ghana was transitioning from military rule to a civilian <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/aft.2010.57.1.24">government</a>. Political tension was high, linked to an economic downturn following <a href="https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1310&context=hcoltheses">structural adjustment programmes</a> adopted in the 1980s. But Ansah chose to relocate his budding career to Ghana. </p>
<p>His case demonstrates how the knowledge and expertise migrants gather through international career mobility can be converted into assets at an individual, national and international level. Returning migrants can transform traditional industries into modern, globalised ones.</p>
<h2>Transforming Ghana’s fashion industry</h2>
<p>We are researchers in sociology, African studies and geography who have been studying how internal and external migration and spatial context influence cultural and creative practice in Ghana. For the Kofi Ansah case study we interviewed 31 Ghanaian fashion designers whose career journeys had been directly and indirectly influenced by him. These interviews are supplemented by information from social media dedicated to Ansah and his works. </p>
<p>Kofi Ansah, who <a href="https://www.peacefmonline.com/pages/showbiz/fashion/201405/198235.php">died in 2014</a>, was from a creative family. His elder sister, <a href="https://face2faceafrica.com/article/felicia-abban-ghanas-first-female-photographer-in-whose-lens-was-nkrumahs-mirror">Felicia Abban</a>, was the official photographer of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president. His elder brother, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0030503/">Kwaw Ansah</a>, is an acclaimed film writer, director and producer. </p>
<p>After completing his secondary education, Kofi enrolled in the Chelsea School of Art in the United Kingdom to study fashion design. He made his first fashion headline after he designed a beaded dress for Princess Anne. Subsequently, he worked for several successful British fashion brands, including Gerald Austin and Guy Laroche, before establishing his own studio in central London in 1980. </p>
<p>Despite his early success on the UK fashion scene, Ansah returned to Ghana in 1992 to get fresh inspiration and “try to show people that we can use our fabrics for other things … We just have to work on it and make it commercial,” he explained during an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B_FXwpwJMgV/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">interview</a>. </p>
<p>The way cloth was produced locally, using <a href="https://www.adireafricantextiles.com/textiles-resources-sub-saharan-africa/an-introduction-to-sub-saharan-african-textiles/loom-types-in-sub-saharan-africa/">strip loom</a> technology, limited the volume of production. And the conventional styling of clothes limited their patronage. These were some of the features Ansah sought to change.</p>
<p>Ansah transformed Ghana’s fashion industry in four areas: </p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Fabrics and design</strong>: His modern designs used African traditional cloth, such as kente and <a href="https://craftatlas.co/crafts/bogolan">bogolanfini</a>. Linked to these style changes was his collaboration with Woodin and the Ghana Textiles Production, two textile producing companies, to introduce the sale of fabric in single yards instead of the standard six yards. This made the cloth more accessible and functional. It led to the production of casual clothes, such as skirts, blouses, shirts, shorts and trousers, for men and women. He then introduced ready-to-wear clothing at Woodin.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Accessories</strong>: Ansah was also passionate about promoting fashion accessories made with local materials. These included wood, raffia and his personal favourite, calabash. His runway designs always included stunning accessories. The use of prominent accessories has now become an integral element of African fashion shows.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Production</strong>: Ansah was instrumental in the introduction of the <a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/National-Friday-Wear-Programme-launched-69720">Friday African wear policy</a> in Ghana. This was aimed at promoting the wearing of local bespoke garments in workplaces on Fridays. Ansah used his friendship with then minister for trade and industry, Alan Kyeremanten, to push his idea to democratise and regularise the use of wax print. Ansah also influenced fashion production by employing international marketing strategies like fashion shows and exhibitions. He thus opened Ghanaian fashion to international audiences by using globally accepted techniques.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Human capital</strong>: More importantly, Ansah’s vision to grow a lasting and successful industry propelled him to mentor many of Ghana’s finest contemporary designers. He partnered with international agencies to launch mentorship programmes for young designers. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>One such programme was the <a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/Roberto-Cavalli-and-Vogue-Italia-Editor-In-Chief-visit-Ghana-and-Nigeria-227092">Web Young Designers Hub</a>, financed by the French Embassy and coordinated by Ansah and <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/franca-sozzani">Franca Sozzani</a>, former editor of Vogue Italia. Another project spearheaded by Ansah was the <a href="https://ethicalfashioninitiative.org/">Ethical Fashion Initiative</a>, a partnership between the United Nations and the Presidential Special Initiative programme. These programmes and the exposure that came with them positioned contemporary designers to engage in “brain circulation.”</p>
<p>By participating in projects, young designers had the opportunity to travel to other countries and learn about aspects of fashion such as fabric production and event organisation. Such travel was geared towards acquiring knowledge that would have an impact on Ghana’s fashion industry. </p>
<p>These engagements helped young fashion designers build networks with designers across the globe. </p>
<h2>Ansah’s impact</h2>
<p>The Ghanaian fashion industry is making its mark <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/51163/1/9781003148340_oachapter1.pdf">globally</a>. <a href="https://instagram.com/steviefrenchie?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">Steve French</a> and other young designers are recognised for their creative works and talents. Garments made by Ghanaian designers like <a href="https://www.duabaserwastudios.com/">Duaba Serwaa</a> and <a href="https://christiebrownonline.com/en-gh">Christie Brown</a> are worn by stars such as Lupita Nyongo and Beyonce respectively. Young Ghanaians, too, proudly wear African clothes for all occasions. The current status of Ghana’s fashion industry is largely due to the efforts of Kofi Ansah.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211291/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie received funding from the Danish Foreign Ministry (DANIDA) for this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Akosua Keseboa Darkwah received funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark grant number 18-05-CBS, Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana for this study. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine V. Gough received funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark grant number 18-05-CBS, Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana, for this study.</span></em></p>International career mobility can give people valuable knowledge and expertise to be used in their home country.Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie, Research Fellow, Center for Cultural and African Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Akosua Keseboa Darkwah, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of GhanaKatherine V. Gough, Professor of Human Geography, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060332023-05-24T22:05:47Z2023-05-24T22:05:47ZBiodegradable plastic in clothing doesn’t break down nearly as quickly as hoped – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527803/original/file-20230523-19-o9bcee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1000%2C652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Discarded clothing is responsible for millions of tonnes of plastic waste each year.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shirts-floating-deep-water-blue-1299694219">Yudhistira99/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Plastic pollution has emerged as one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. Over <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/42277/Plastic_pollution.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">100 million tonnes</a> of plastic enters the environment each year, with more than <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1260352">10 million tonnes</a> ending up in our oceans. These plastics break down into harmful microplastic particles so small they can be consumed by wildlife.</p>
<p>We all recognise discarded bottles and bags as plastic waste. But the synthetic fibres that are woven into our clothing – polyester, nylon, acrylic and others – are equally problematic. Every year, more than <a href="https://textileexchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Textile-Exchange_Preferred-Fiber-and-Materials-Market-Report_2021.pdf">60 million tonnes</a> of plastic fabric is produced, a considerable amount of which ultimately finds it way to landfill. </p>
<p>One promising approach to tackle this crisis is the use of “biodegradable” plastics. These plastics are designed to break down naturally into gases and water, which are then released back into the environment without causing long-lasting damage.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-biodegradable-plastic-is-not-biodegradable-116368">When biodegradable plastic is not biodegradable</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But the reality of biodegradable plastic (or “bioplastic”) falls short of meeting our expectations. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284681">New research</a>, led by the <a href="https://scripps.ucsd.edu/">Scripps Institution of Oceanography</a> in San Diego, California, has found that a popular bioplastic material called polylactic acid does not break down in the environment nearly as quickly as hoped.</p>
<p>The researchers suspended fibre samples from both bio- and oil-based plastic materials, as well as natural fibres such as cotton, in coastal waters and on the seafloor. Over time, they examined these individual fibres under a microscope to see if they were breaking down. While cotton fibres began to break down within a month, synthetic fibres, including bioplastic materials such as polylactic acid, showed no signs of breaking down even after 400 days submerged in the ocean.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527970/original/file-20230524-22-wl6nxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A figure showing the disintegration time in days for five types of material exposed to coastal waters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527970/original/file-20230524-22-wl6nxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527970/original/file-20230524-22-wl6nxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527970/original/file-20230524-22-wl6nxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527970/original/file-20230524-22-wl6nxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527970/original/file-20230524-22-wl6nxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527970/original/file-20230524-22-wl6nxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527970/original/file-20230524-22-wl6nxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Disintegration time in days for five types of material exposed to coastal waters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Royer et al. (2023)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Finding their way into the sea</h2>
<p>The plastic pollution that stems from clothing is a particularly tricky area. Clothes are often not recycled or even recyclable, and they release tiny plastic fibres into the environment through gradual wear and tear. </p>
<p>Clothing fibres can reach our oceans via multiple pathways. Clothes that are washed into the sea, for example, will be broken up physically by wave action or friction with sand particles. This process leads to the release of fibres as the garment frays. </p>
<p>Even by just wearing our clothes, plastic fibres are <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.9b06892">discharged into the environment</a> – some of which may eventually settle in the ocean. And during the process of washing our clothes, fibres become dislodged and are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X16307639">carried down our drains</a>, also potentially ending up the sea. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hundreds-of-millions-of-microplastic-particles-could-be-flowing-into-uk-rivers-hidden-in-raw-sewage-177869">Hundreds of millions of microplastic particles could be flowing into UK rivers, hidden in raw sewage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>No matter what we do, clothing fibres will inevitably find their way into the environment. So, it is sensible to give serious consideration to what happens to these fibres once released.</p>
<h2>Why does this matter?</h2>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36006158/">Research</a> has found evidence that polylactic acid microfibres are potentially toxic to marine organisms, including jellyfish. The jellyfish studied changed their pulse frequency when exposed to high concentrations of these plastic fibres, potentially reducing their ability to hunt, avoid predators, and maintain orientation in the water. </p>
<p>The presence of polylactic acid fibres in the marine environment may cause jellyfish numbers and behaviour to change. Such changes could have far-reaching implications for marine ecosystems. Jellyfish are widely distributed across all oceans and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016953471830209X?casa_token=-HSFmAR5BdIAAAAA:liKw9NiK5jjgu0Le49ysJsxWzJ_5QBFLPDtLmfyFv-lT_86bUWoAcPJWQeTSTdXSCjv4p1DPGw">play a crucial role</a> in the marine food web, both as predators and prey. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A compass jellyfish drifting off the Welsh coast." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527964/original/file-20230524-26-jusz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527964/original/file-20230524-26-jusz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527964/original/file-20230524-26-jusz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527964/original/file-20230524-26-jusz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527964/original/file-20230524-26-jusz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527964/original/file-20230524-26-jusz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527964/original/file-20230524-26-jusz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A compass jellyfish drifting off the Welsh coast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/compass-jellyfish-chrysaora-hysoscella-drifting-midwater-2135016713">JDScuba/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The longevity of polylactic acid fibres in the marine environment is another concern. The longer these fibres remain in the environment, the more likely it is they will be eaten by marine organisms. </p>
<p>Bioaccumulation, where microplastics and their associated chemicals accumulate across a marine food web, is then likely to occur. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0240792">Research</a> has found evidence of microplastic bioaccumulation across multiple species and microplastic types. </p>
<h2>Tackling plastic pollution</h2>
<p>No matter how the plastic enters the environment, solutions are needed to <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/42277/Plastic_pollution.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">tackle plastic pollution</a>. Biodegradable plastics are one potential option, but only if they are made from materials that are truly able to break down quickly in the natural environment. They would reduce the time in which plastic materials spend in the environment.</p>
<p>As with conventional plastics, though, bioplastics must still be disposed of correctly. But research has found that the labels and instructions on many biodegradable products are often confusing and misleading. In a <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.942724/full">study of 9,701 UK citizens</a>, many reported not having understood the meaning of the labels of degradable, compostable and biodegradable plastics. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person holding a biodegradable plastic bag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527960/original/file-20230524-15-pvzc2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527960/original/file-20230524-15-pvzc2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527960/original/file-20230524-15-pvzc2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527960/original/file-20230524-15-pvzc2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527960/original/file-20230524-15-pvzc2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527960/original/file-20230524-15-pvzc2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527960/original/file-20230524-15-pvzc2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research shows many people misunderstand the meaning of the labels of degradable, compostable and biodegradable plastics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/plastic-strength-test-made-plant-based-2109593699">wisely/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This could lead to biodegradable and non-biodegradable plastics being disposed of incorrectly. Plastic that is released into the environment may not decompose, and will instead break down into small pieces of microplastic. </p>
<p>Polylactic acid <a href="https://edepot.wur.nl/514397">can break down</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.034">specialised industrial composting plants</a>. But even then, not all composting processes can handle every type of bioplastic. The plastic material has to meet specific <a href="https://www.en-standard.eu/bs-en-13432-2000-packaging.-requirements-for-packaging-recoverable-through-composting-and-biodegradation.-test-scheme-and-evaluation-criteria-for-the-final-acceptance-of-packaging/">criteria</a> and produce compost of a <a href="https://www.qualitycompost.org.uk/standards/pas100">minimum standard</a>. </p>
<p>As the world uses more biodegradable plastic, we need to make sure this material’s environmental footprint is minimised. With that in mind, improving labelling and disposal instructions and improving access to industrial composting could all help.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Keiron Roberts receives funding from UNEP and Innovate UK</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fay Couceiro receives funding from Southern Water, OFWAT and multiple charities involved with GB Row Challenge (<a href="https://www.gbrowchallenge.com/">https://www.gbrowchallenge.com/</a>). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Muhammad Ali receives funding from Innovate UK and the construction industry.</span></em></p>Polylactic acid – a popular bioplastic – does not readily break down when released into the ocean, and could disrupt marine ecosystemsKeiron Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Sustainability and the Built Environment, University of PortsmouthFay Couceiro, Principal Research Fellow in Biogeochemistry and Environmental Pollution, University of PortsmouthMuhammad Ali, Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2019852023-03-24T12:05:51Z2023-03-24T12:05:51ZPlastic fibres stunt growth in mussels by more than a third – here’s why this is a concern<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516996/original/file-20230322-921-v53f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3494%2C2321&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tiny pieces of plastic litter have a harmful impact on marine animals, including mussels.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mussels-on-rocks-229688521">Popova Tetiana/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Plastic pollution poses a threat to marine wildlife. The plastic bags, bottles and straws that we see strewn across beaches have long been identified as a danger. But tiny fragments of plastic – called microplastics – that are less than 5mm in size are also a major source. </p>
<p>Microfibres are the most common type of microplastic and account for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117349400?via%3Dihub">up to 91%</a> of the microplastics that float around our seas. These minuscule fibres are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X16307639?via%3Dihub">shed from textiles</a> as a result of the wearing and washing of clothes, and from the weathering and abrasion of marine equipment.</p>
<p>Marine animals will encounter and even consume these microplastics. Shellfish, which feed by filtering organic particles from the water, are particularly vulnerable. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651319313971">One study</a> found that shellfish ingest far higher concentrations of microplastics than most other marine animals.</p>
<p>At the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, my colleagues and I <a href="https://microplastics.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s43591-023-00052-8">studied</a> the effect of microfibre exposure on young blue mussels (only 1cm in length) over three months. Younger animals are generally more vulnerable than adults to changes in their environment. Younger mussels, for example, have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/37/1/16/622175">higher mortality rates in the wild</a>, mainly due to predation. Therefore, the impact of microplastic contamination on younger mussels is likely to be profound.</p>
<p>We found that prolonged exposure to polyester microfibres led to smaller mussels that grew at a slower rate.</p>
<p>Blue mussels are an important indicator species for scientists as they reveal wider trends in the ecosystem. By constantly filtering water, blue mussels are exposed to pollutants, so are a good indicator of water quality. Mussels, as part of a group of shellfish called bivalves, are also an important part of marine food security. So, if reduced growth is also happening in the wild, it could send shockwaves through the marine ecosystem and the bivalve aquaculture industry.</p>
<h2>Smaller mussels</h2>
<p>In a controlled-temperature laboratory, we exposed the mussels to polyester microfibres (between 0.01mm and 0.5mm in size) at two concentrations: 8 and 80 microfibres per litre. We also exposed mussels to cotton microfibres at 80 microfibres per litre.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516938/original/file-20230322-1047-h9fj4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of mussels caught in a tangle of fishing line." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516938/original/file-20230322-1047-h9fj4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516938/original/file-20230322-1047-h9fj4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516938/original/file-20230322-1047-h9fj4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516938/original/file-20230322-1047-h9fj4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516938/original/file-20230322-1047-h9fj4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516938/original/file-20230322-1047-h9fj4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516938/original/file-20230322-1047-h9fj4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spot the plastic: a group of mussels caught in a tangle of fishing line. Cornwall, UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Walkinshaw</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scientists have found marine microplastic concentrations of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117349400?via%3Dihub">10 particles per litre of seawater</a> to be common. So, the concentrations used by our study are representative of natural environments.</p>
<p>The blue mussels that were exposed to the higher concentration of polyester microfibres were significantly smaller and showed a 36% lower growth rate on average than mussels that were not exposed to any microfibres. This result was only observed in the mussels exposed to the highest concentration of polyester microfibres. Exposure to cotton microfibres did not cause a significant decline in the growth rate of young mussels. </p>
<h2>Spending energy wisely</h2>
<p>Toxicity studies have shown that microplastics can cause damage at the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00033/full">molecular</a> and cellular level in adult mussels. <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es302332w">One study</a> recorded a strong inflammatory response in mussel cells after six hours of exposure to polyethylene microplastic particles.</p>
<p>The reduction in mussel growth in response to plastic microfibre exposure could stem from a shift in their energetic budget (the balance between the energy taken in and the energy used). These changes could be caused by the mussels altering their feeding behaviours to avoid consuming microfibres, diverting energy away from growth into processing ingested microfibres, or towards repairing the damage caused by these microfibres.</p>
<p>Reduced growth rates in mussels could in turn affect the wider ecosystem. </p>
<p>Young mussels grow at a rapid rate – reaching marketable size in 12 to 24 months. However, they must compete for food and space both with each other and with other species. Younger mussels that cannot grow as fast may be outcompeted by other species and are subject to higher predation. </p>
<p>Smaller mussels are also of less nutritional value. Predators, like crabs, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/whelk">whelks</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/sea-star">starfish</a> and many bird species, may find themselves having to eat more of these smaller mussels. This could impact the populations of both the mussels and their predators.</p>
<p>Humans, as consumers of seafood, will also be affected by smaller mussels. Oysters, mussels and scallops alone provide <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/sofia/2022/en/">over 8 million tonnes of food</a> to the global population each year. But lower growth rates mean that mussels will take longer to grow to a harvestable size. Smaller animals and longer time-to-market may reduce the profitability of bivalve aquaculture in the future. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Farmed mussels in the hands of a fisherman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516945/original/file-20230322-1047-g3fmhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516945/original/file-20230322-1047-g3fmhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516945/original/file-20230322-1047-g3fmhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516945/original/file-20230322-1047-g3fmhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516945/original/file-20230322-1047-g3fmhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516945/original/file-20230322-1047-g3fmhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516945/original/file-20230322-1047-g3fmhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mussels are an important part of marine food security.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/small-sea-mussels-hands-local-fisherman-1486704878">pang_oasis/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Polluted waters</h2>
<p>Microplastics have a clear impact on the growth of young blue mussels. But the actual impact could be even more severe. </p>
<p>In some more polluted marine environments, scientists have identified microplastic concentrations of up to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00244-015-0209-9">182 particles per litre</a> – over double the concentration used in our experiment. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120310253?via%3Dihub#sec3">Separate research</a> also suggests that microplastic concentrations in our oceans may be even higher than currently found, as many particles are too small to capture and count.</p>
<p>Our study highlights the importance of conducting long-term experiments when evaluating the impact of microplastics on marine life. The impact on the cells and tissues of an organism when exposed to microplastics can become evident over short timescales. </p>
<p>But the impact of environmentally relevant concentrations of microplastics on growth, reproduction and survival, which have the greatest relevance to entire populations, require far longer observation periods.</p>
<p>Marine environments are already threatened by overfishing and climate change. Studies like ours are now starting to shed light on the damaging effects of microfibres and other microplastics on the animals within our oceans.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Walkinshaw received his PhD funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), in association with the University of East Anglia in partnership with Plymouth Marine Laboratory.</span></em></p>A study shows that exposure to polyester microfibres inhibits growth in mussels.Chris Walkinshaw, PhD Candidate, Plymouth Marine LaboratoryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2018232023-03-20T16:21:53Z2023-03-20T16:21:53ZHow to make your clothes last longer – it’s good for your bank account and the environment too<p>Every garment will wear out after repeated wearing and washing. On average, an item of clothing lasts <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281034702_Age_and_active_life_of_clothing">around five years</a> before being thrown away.</p>
<p>However, disposing of clothing, both used and unworn, usually carries an environmental cost. The global fashion industry is estimated to generate <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42824-021-00026-2">92 million tonnes</a> of textile waste each year, and the UK alone dumps <a href="https://traid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/impacts_of_clothing_factsheet_23percent.pdf">350,000 tonnes of clothing</a> into landfill. Textile deterioration in landfill sites releases greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.</p>
<p>Much of this waste could be prevented if we wore our clothes for longer. There is no way to make your clothes last forever, and their durability does to a degree depend on the quality of their fabric and how well they are made. But, if you want your wardrobe to last as long as possible, looking after your clothes properly can make a difference. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-021-01909-x">One study</a> found, for example, that with the correct care, you can double the lifespan of a jumper from seven years, on average, to almost 15.</p>
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<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-ditch-fomo-and-foster-jomo-the-joy-of-missing-out-200400">How to ditch ‘fomo’ and foster ‘jomo’ – the joy of missing out</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/positive-affirmations-how-talking-to-yourself-can-let-the-light-in-199798">Positive affirmations: how talking to yourself can let the light in</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-your-reusable-coffee-cup-may-be-no-better-than-a-disposable-120949">Why your reusable coffee cup may be no better than a disposable</a></em></p>
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<p>Clothes come with various care instructions on labels sewn into the garment. These symbols tell you all you need to know about how to wash, dry, bleach and iron your clothes. Understanding them will allow you to clean and care for your clothing correctly.</p>
<p>So, here’s how to decode your clothing care labels.</p>
<h2>1. Washing care</h2>
<p>The washing care label includes symbols that indicate whether you should machine wash, hand wash or dry clean the garment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516403/original/file-20230320-18-lcsjf0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Laundry symbols for machine and hand washing clothes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516403/original/file-20230320-18-lcsjf0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516403/original/file-20230320-18-lcsjf0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516403/original/file-20230320-18-lcsjf0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516403/original/file-20230320-18-lcsjf0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516403/original/file-20230320-18-lcsjf0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516403/original/file-20230320-18-lcsjf0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516403/original/file-20230320-18-lcsjf0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laundry symbols for machine and hand washing clothes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/washing-laundry-symbols-set-vector-icons-1703551213">Vector FX/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The machine wash symbol – a washtub – specifies the recommended maximum wash temperature as a number within the symbol. This is usually 30, 40, 50 or 60°C. If the washtub symbol has a cross through it, don’t put the garment in the washing machine.</p>
<p>A symbol of a hand reaching into the washtub indicates that the garment is delicate and should be hand-washed only. Hand washing is typically gentler than machine washing, so avoids agitating and stretching fragile fibres. But it is still essential to use a mild detergent and cold water when washing by hand, to avoid damaging the garment.</p>
<p>Many hand-washed garments will also have a twisted knot symbol with a cross over it. This indicates that you should not wring or twist the washed item, to prevent the fabric’s fibres from becoming stretched or distorted. </p>
<p>Dry cleaning is a specialised cleaning process that uses chemical solvents to remove dirt and stains from fabrics. It is important to dry clean some fabrics, such as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291655990_Laundering_An_important_aspect_of_silk_care">silks</a>, as they may shrink, fade or become damaged if machine- or hand-washed. </p>
<p>The most common dry clean symbol is shown as a circle with a P inside. This indicates that your dry cleaner must not use <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/trichloroethylene">Trichloroethylene</a> in the cleaning process. Trichloroethylene is a toxic chemical that can cause health problems including headaches, nausea, liver damage and even death. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516404/original/file-20230320-1510-hwvu2h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Laundry symbols for dry cleaning." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516404/original/file-20230320-1510-hwvu2h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516404/original/file-20230320-1510-hwvu2h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516404/original/file-20230320-1510-hwvu2h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516404/original/file-20230320-1510-hwvu2h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516404/original/file-20230320-1510-hwvu2h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516404/original/file-20230320-1510-hwvu2h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516404/original/file-20230320-1510-hwvu2h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laundry symbols for dry cleaning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/washing-laundry-symbols-set-vector-icons-1703551213">Vector FX/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Bleaching care</h2>
<p>Triangular symbols tell you whether you can use bleach when cleaning the garment. Bleach is a powerful chemical that can cause <a href="https://www.cleaninginstitute.org/cleaning-tips/clothes/detergents/using-bleach-laundry">discoloration or permanent damage to some fabrics</a>. </p>
<p>An empty triangle means you can use any bleach (including chlorine) to clean the garment. A triangle intersected by two diagonal lines means use only non-chlorine bleach. </p>
<p>A cross over the triangle means that no bleach should be used on the garment. If this is the case and the garment has stains that cannot be removed with regular washing, you could apply a pre-wash stain remover – but check first that this stain remover is safe for the fabric. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516406/original/file-20230320-16-4n2o0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Laundry symbols for bleaching." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516406/original/file-20230320-16-4n2o0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516406/original/file-20230320-16-4n2o0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516406/original/file-20230320-16-4n2o0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516406/original/file-20230320-16-4n2o0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516406/original/file-20230320-16-4n2o0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516406/original/file-20230320-16-4n2o0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516406/original/file-20230320-16-4n2o0b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laundry symbols for bleaching.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/washing-laundry-symbols-set-vector-icons-1703551213">Vector FX/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Drying care</h2>
<p>Drying your clothes incorrectly can increase the risk of shrinking, stretching or damaging their fabric – shortening the lifetime of your clothes. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622010186">One study</a> found that fabric breakdown was responsible for 29% of physical failure in clothes discarded by their owners.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516407/original/file-20230320-469-7wle4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Laundry symbols for tumble drying." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516407/original/file-20230320-469-7wle4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516407/original/file-20230320-469-7wle4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516407/original/file-20230320-469-7wle4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516407/original/file-20230320-469-7wle4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516407/original/file-20230320-469-7wle4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516407/original/file-20230320-469-7wle4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516407/original/file-20230320-469-7wle4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laundry symbols for tumble drying.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/laundry-symbols-care-washing-drying-bleaching-2110487036">Yevgenij_D/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So before you toss all of your clothes into the tumble drier together, consult the drying care symbols. A circle within a square tells you it’s okay to dry the garment in a tumble drier. If there is a cross through this symbol, then don’t tumble dry the item.</p>
<p>There are several other drying options for when tumble drying is not appropriate. A square with a curved line at the top, for example, says you can hang the garment on a line to dry. But if the square has a line inside, you should lay the garment flat to dry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516391/original/file-20230320-24-ym1em.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Laundry symbols for alternative drying options." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516391/original/file-20230320-24-ym1em.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516391/original/file-20230320-24-ym1em.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516391/original/file-20230320-24-ym1em.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516391/original/file-20230320-24-ym1em.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516391/original/file-20230320-24-ym1em.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516391/original/file-20230320-24-ym1em.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516391/original/file-20230320-24-ym1em.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laundry symbols for alternative drying options.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/laundry-symbols-care-washing-drying-bleaching-2110487036">Yevgenij_D/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Ironing care</h2>
<p>Clothes are ironed to remove creases. Some fabrics require a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0040517517725124">specific iron temperature or technique</a>, so you should always check the clothing label for any specific ironing instructions. </p>
<p>The ironing care icons are the most intuitive of all the clothing care symbols. They are the outline of a clothing iron, and indicate the maximum ironing temperature via dots. </p>
<p>An iron with one dot means you should iron the garment at a low temperature, and applies to garments made with synthetic acetate and acrylic fabrics. Two dots mean you should iron the garment on a medium heat, and suits garments made from polyester, satin and wool. Three dots indicate that it is safe to iron the garment at a high temperature, and applies to fabrics including linen, cotton and denim. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516408/original/file-20230320-16-w4utq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Laundry symbols for ironing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516408/original/file-20230320-16-w4utq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516408/original/file-20230320-16-w4utq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516408/original/file-20230320-16-w4utq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516408/original/file-20230320-16-w4utq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516408/original/file-20230320-16-w4utq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516408/original/file-20230320-16-w4utq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516408/original/file-20230320-16-w4utq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laundry symbols for ironing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/washing-laundry-symbols-set-vector-icons-1703551213">Vector FX/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Understanding how to care for your clothes can improve the longevity of your wardrobe. By carefully following the instructions on the labels, you’ll not only save yourself money, but also help to minimise the fashion industry’s environmental footprint.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sajida Gordon works for Nottingham Trent University, Clothing Sustainability Research Group. Sajida is currently an affiliate signatory on WRAP's Textile 2030 initiative. </span></em></p>By understanding clothing care labels, you can extend the lifespan of your clothes.Sajida Gordon, Researcher for the Clothing Sustainability Research Group, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1921412022-10-20T15:46:22Z2022-10-20T15:46:22ZReviving the UK’s textile industry could help replace fast fashion with homegrown clothes, but there are barriers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489432/original/file-20221012-5607-we6dog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=62%2C26%2C3422%2C2288&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rejecting fast fashion for "homegrown" sustainable clothing.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-beautiful-women-weekly-cloth-market-204877840">View Apart / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world has experienced massive disruption to <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-problems-that-could-slow-supplies-of-food-computers-cars-and-other-goods-this-winter-189331">supply chains</a> in recent years as a result of the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine. This has restricted the availability of a wide array of goods, including essential items such as food, medicines and fuels. </p>
<p>In the UK, the challenges of creating new <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/af1ef504-ee32-43c0-b7d5-81d045714618">trade deals</a> following Brexit and of meeting ambitious national <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy">net-zero carbon targets</a>, have also <a href="https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/public-backs-calls-to-keep-up-food-self-sufficiency-levels/">led to discussions</a> about what the UK should be importing versus producing at home to boost <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/172331/mps-launch-inquiry-into-food-security/">food security</a>. But food isn’t the only resource grown on farms – many of the clothes people buy on the high street can be traced back to a field.</p>
<p>Around 40% of the fibres used in the fashion industry globally come from plants or animals, with cotton being the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344916302828">biggest contributor</a>. Most of this activity now takes place <a href="https://www.commonobjective.co/article/from-fibre-to-fabric-a-look-at-global-mills">abroad</a>, but textiles were once big business in the UK. Cotton mills <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/textile-mills-lancashire-legacy/textile-mills-lancashire-legacy/">dominated the landscape</a> of the north of England when it was at the heart of the industrial revolution. Reviving this could provide a route to a more sustainable, “homegrown” UK textile industry.</p>
<p>The fashion industry is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200310-sustainable-fashion-how-to-buy-clothes-good-for-the-climate">responsible for</a> around 8-10% of global carbon emissions and nearly 20% of wastewater, not to mention a <a href="https://labourbehindthelabel.org/">human rights record</a> of low pay, long hours and poor working conditions. As consumers increasingly look for more <a href="https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/customers-care-more-about-sustainability-post-lockdowns-now-what">sustainable and responsible</a> clothing options, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58883328">reinvigorating the UK textile industry</a> could help to address these problems.</p>
<p>Our work with <a href="https://northwestenglandfibreshed.org/homegrown-homespun/">Homegrown/Homespun</a> – a community initiative developing a line of naturally dyed linen jeans using UK-grown and spun flax – and the <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-eco-innovation">Centre for Global Eco-innovation’s</a> research student, Helena Pribyl, identified four benefits of redeveloping the UK textile industry. But it also highlighted four of the barriers to achieving this ambition.</p>
<p>First, the benefits.</p>
<h2>1. Reducing emissions</h2>
<p>Introducing a regenerative approach to growing clothing fibres like flax in the UK could help reduce emissions from farming. A recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722010476?casa_token=QCyXS2ctY8sAAAAA:HhBONaMeGg1bIV65u3z970ydIn1i5cpMuvqB64-pi032kUc9yRHYWYL6p1TUCDdTrPDEGnR4jw#s0025">study</a> suggests that increasing soil carbon stores through regenerative arable farming in the UK could offset agricultural emissions by up to 25%. Regenerative farming techniques, like the use of organic manures and reduced tillage, not only reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from fertilisers, pesticides, and machinery but also help to sequester carbon in soils. </p>
<p>Emissions could also be reduced by cutting down on transportation between the field, raw material processing and retail stages of the clothing industry. Buying locally made textiles would help to substantially reduce the emissions per item of clothing. The ability to use less carbon-intensive energy generation would also be beneficial.</p>
<h2>2. Increasing transparency</h2>
<p>Manufacturing textiles locally would locate individual stages of the supply chain closer together, making them more observable and therefore less prone to unethical practices. It is undeniable that human rights abuses are a global problem – think of the issues identified in <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/central/2022-04-08/a-look-inside-boohoos-new-leicester-factory-after-working-conditions-criticised">Leicester clothing factories</a> during the pandemic. But such issues are a particularly acute concern in geographically dispersed supply chains and when sourcing from certain high-risk <a href="https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/">countries</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Boosting skills and sustainability awareness</h2>
<p>Rejuvenating the UK textiles industry could help reconnect people with lost skills, crafts and culture. It could also contribute to sustainability awareness and help change lifestyle and consumption habits, especially when fields are located within local communities.</p>
<h2>4. Growing local, rural economies</h2>
<p>For rural economies, a renewed textile industry would bring job opportunities and potentially contribute to the UK’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/levelling-up-the-united-kingdom">levelling up agenda</a>. Harris Tweed is a <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-handwoven-history-of-harris-tweed-british-fashion-council/8QUBDRacUjdSJQ?hl=en">prime example</a> of the success of such a place-based business model. It brings employment to many sheep farmers, mill workers and independent home weavers in the Scottish Outer Hebrides and helps build the region’s reputation globally, generating tourism and other economic benefits. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-a-place-based-industrial-strategy-work-98716">How to make a 'place-based' industrial strategy work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Now, what about those four barriers? </p>
<h2>1. Space is limited</h2>
<p>Space is at a premium in the UK, with a limited amount of land available for cultivation. Unless land unsuitable for growing food because of issues like contamination is used, producing flax or other clothing-related crops like indigo could come at the expense of national food production and the <a href="https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0626/">resilience of food supply chains</a>. It is hard to argue that clothes should take priority over food, especially in the current economic climate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bales of flax in a field, green trees, sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489441/original/file-20221012-22-g31ivm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489441/original/file-20221012-22-g31ivm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489441/original/file-20221012-22-g31ivm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489441/original/file-20221012-22-g31ivm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489441/original/file-20221012-22-g31ivm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489441/original/file-20221012-22-g31ivm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489441/original/file-20221012-22-g31ivm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flax used to make linen being dried in a field using traditional methods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/traditional-drying-flax-99154487">Niek Goossen / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Skills would take time to develop</h2>
<p>Growing linen-quality flax and spinning it into a high-quality fabric takes a lot of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYbuyqKMp9g&t=172s">skill</a>. From farming clothing fibres and dyes, to processing and production, the UK has lost a lot of the skills needed to revive this industry at scale. Reskilling the UK in this regard would be a benefit, especially in regional areas that have struggled to replace the textile industry since it was offshored, but this would take time and require significant investment.</p>
<h2>3. Economies of scale will be hard to achieve</h2>
<p>The required facilities for textile manufacturing – for example, flax processing steps like scutching and retting, where the plant is beaten and softened – have been moved overseas. Many small initiatives working independently may struggle to make the economics of local textile production work. More collaboration will be needed to reach a sufficient scale to entice investment and bring the necessary physical infrastructure back to the UK.</p>
<h2>4. Slow fashion is more expensive</h2>
<p>Because of the increased cost of labour and energy, UK-grown and made clothing would be more expensive. It might therefore remain a niche product unless the public buys into the idea, helping it to form part of a <a href="https://epigram.org.uk/2022/09/30/in-conversation-with-amelia-twine-leading-bristols-slow-fashion-movement/">broader fashion revolution</a>. But this would require a cultural <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/3/30/not-so-fast-fashion-eu-reveals-crackdown-on-disposable-clothing">move away</a> from disposable fast fashion towards durable, reusable, recyclable slow fashion.</p>
<p>The UK textile industry can’t be regrown overnight. Resuscitating it will rely on the buy-in of a wide range of businesses, consumers and communities. Political support will also be needed to incentivise the reshoring of factories, train people and promote the growth of an inter-connected industry – from farm to coat hanger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jess Davies has received funding from UKRI and Defra, and Helena Pribyl's studentship is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, Community Clothing and the Society of Dyers and Colourists. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helena Pribyl, the Masters by Research student involved in this project, was supported by the European Regional Development Fund, Community Clothing and the Society of Dyers and Colourists.</span></em></p>The barriers and benefits to reviving the UK textile industry.Jess Davies, Chair Professor in Sustainability, Lancaster UniversityMark Stevenson, Professor of Operations Management, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1849722022-06-14T15:59:09Z2022-06-14T15:59:09ZGrenfell Tower anniversary: how a quilt in the making is a symbol of the community’s love and quest for justice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468621/original/file-20220613-26-pol3fu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Quilts are a repository of memory, personal and collective.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tuesday Greenidge is a multimedia artist based in North Kensington, London. When Grenfell tower caught alight on the night of June 14, 2017, her daughter was in the lift. She managed to escape. She came to her mother’s home to tell her Grenfell was on fire. </p>
<p>In the five years since, Greenidge has been working on a quilt <a href="https://theconversation.com/grenfell-tower-the-difficult-task-of-creating-a-fitting-memorial-to-the-tragedy-184847">in memory</a> of the 72 people who lost their lives that night. As she explained in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-61511903">a recent BBC interview</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I wanted to salvage all the messages of love and condolence and defiance and prayers that grew organically around the walls and the fences around our community.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aqEo4GgXrRs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The Grenfell memorial quilt is inspired both by the world’s largest quilt, the Portuguese <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-patchwork-quilt#:%7E:text=The%20world's%20largest%20patchwork%20quilt,completed%20on%2018%20June%202000.">manta da cultura</a> and the fabled <a href="https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history">Aids memorial quilt</a> (which, in its first, 1987 iteration, featured the names of 1,920 people who had died from the virus). Greenidge’s idea is that it will ultimately be as wide and as long as Grenfell tower itself. </p>
<p>Artistically, this project is a monumental undertaking. Socially, it operates as a vital connector, a way for people to come together, to remember, to talk – and hopefully, to heal. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large patchwork quilt with decorative elements in many colours, against a yellow wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468610/original/file-20220613-14-27pvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468610/original/file-20220613-14-27pvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468610/original/file-20220613-14-27pvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468610/original/file-20220613-14-27pvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468610/original/file-20220613-14-27pvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468610/original/file-20220613-14-27pvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468610/original/file-20220613-14-27pvs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first 3.65m-wide block of the quilt features several names – Moses, Tony, Yasin – of the deceased.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I have been designing and making quilts, individually and collaboratively, for over 25 years. As a textile academic, practitioner and researcher, I have found that quilt-making gives people <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803249851/">the means to engage</a> with the key issues of our time, be it social injustice, migration, identity, sustainability or health and wellbeing. </p>
<h2>How a quilt is about preserving memory and bearing witness</h2>
<p>Quilt-making is an art form with a <a href="https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ndif/article/download/1112/1176/4873">long</a> and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/1415959/Threads_of_Hope_The_Living_Healing_Quilt_Project">global</a> history, which stretches back to <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/an-introduction-to-quilting-and-patchwork">medieval times</a>. Generally comprised of three layers of fabric, the top often pieced together in a patchwork, quilts are a kind of repository for memories. </p>
<p>Most commonly used as bedclothes, quilts quite literally provide comfort and protection. But this capacity extends beyond their practical uses, too. I have found that they are an important non-verbal means of communication. Greenidge has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-61511903">said as much</a>. Speaking of the night of the fire, she has said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s only years after that you can find the actual words to kind of describe it. That’s why I make art, to find other ways to express how I felt.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She began stitching small patches at home, then started running a weekly sewing bee in various locations. Every Tuesday the group now meets in the North Kensington library. Anyone is welcome to join in. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A detail of the quilt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468608/original/file-20220613-15-lugz4y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468608/original/file-20220613-15-lugz4y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468608/original/file-20220613-15-lugz4y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468608/original/file-20220613-15-lugz4y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468608/original/file-20220613-15-lugz4y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468608/original/file-20220613-15-lugz4y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468608/original/file-20220613-15-lugz4y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of the embroidered messages and drawings are recreations of those left around the base of the tower in the wake of the fire.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Talking about making the quilt communally, she <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-61511903">has said</a> that it feels wonderful, “like the power of people when they come together”. She says she dreams of it being taken up by BBC One’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03myqj2">Great British Sewing Bee</a> and a nationwide army of quilters. </p>
<p>This power starts with the basic component of which quilts are made. Cloth is a potent physical reminder of people; the smell, the texture or simply the feel of a garment can help us to recall a presence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A detail of the quilt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468616/original/file-20220613-2481-ssniiq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468616/original/file-20220613-2481-ssniiq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468616/original/file-20220613-2481-ssniiq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468616/original/file-20220613-2481-ssniiq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468616/original/file-20220613-2481-ssniiq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468616/original/file-20220613-2481-ssniiq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468616/original/file-20220613-2481-ssniiq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the public are invited to send in messages to contribute to the quilt.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because it is made from donations, the Grenfell quilt has its history inscribed upon its surface. Slowly, names of the people who died in the fire are being stitched on to the quilt, along with green crocheted hearts, stuffed animal toys and embroidered versions of the spontaneous messages and drawings people left on the walls and fences around the tower. These fabric mementos act as sensory affirmations that these people are not forgotten. </p>
<h2>The quilt as collective action</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history">Aids memorial quilt</a> was a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470617/">visceral and emotional response</a> to social injustice and loss connected to the Aids crisis. As Gregg Stull, one of the academics involved in exhibiting it early on, <a href="https://scholar.umw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=theatre_dance">wrote in 2001</a>, “The eloquence of the quilt will stand as witness to a terrible time and a devastating loss of lives.” Similarly, the Grenfell quilt serves as a collaborative tool in a shared process of healing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A number of large-scale quilted pieces installed on the ground in Washington DC." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468617/original/file-20220613-22-aq9hci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468617/original/file-20220613-22-aq9hci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468617/original/file-20220613-22-aq9hci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468617/original/file-20220613-22-aq9hci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468617/original/file-20220613-22-aq9hci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468617/original/file-20220613-22-aq9hci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468617/original/file-20220613-22-aq9hci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Aids memorial quilt now features over 50,000 panels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jfgallery/7625590886/in/photostream/">Cocoabiscuit | Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The names sewn into the quilt are also reminiscent of <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/17211041.pdf">signature quilts</a>. Featuring a mass of needlework autographs, they began in the US and gained popularity <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/shop/books/all-books/quilts-1700---2010-hidden-histories-102717.html">in the UK</a> in the late 19th century. </p>
<p>While not as plentiful or varied as their American counterparts, I have <a href="https://lynnsetterington.co.uk/british-signature-cloths/">unearthed</a> a substantial number of British <a href="https://museumandarchives.redcross.org.uk/objects/27556">signature quilts</a> in museums from the Quilters Guild in York to the Moravian community archive in Greater Manchester and several private collections. Made as fundraisers during the two world wars, these quilts are stitched commemorations of people and place. </p>
<p>In 2011, I worked with a refugee and asylum seekers organisation in East Manchester, called Rainbow Haven, to create <a href="https://lynnsetterington.co.uk/rainbow-haven/">a contemporary signature quilt</a>. Much like the Grenfell quilt, it shines a light on an important but underrepresented group.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A detail of the quilt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468612/original/file-20220613-19-cwk56p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468612/original/file-20220613-19-cwk56p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468612/original/file-20220613-19-cwk56p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468612/original/file-20220613-19-cwk56p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468612/original/file-20220613-19-cwk56p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468612/original/file-20220613-19-cwk56p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468612/original/file-20220613-19-cwk56p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tuesday Greenidge and her fellow sewers meet weekly to add new donations.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Grenfell quilt, with its focus on <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/were-no-closer-to-justice-weve-got-no-hope-residents-say-on-fifth-anniversary-of-grenfell-tower-fire-1682004">the overlooked</a> serves as a soft, tactile, portable counterpoint to the ubiquitous hard memorials, fixedly located in parks and city centres. When it is finished, this pieced cloth will be 67m long, as long as the tower is tall. Already, it stands as a sobering reminder of the enormity of this community’s loss. </p>
<p><em>The Grenfell memorial quilt will be on show at the <a href="https://www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk">Festival of Quilts</a>, August 18-21, 2022, at the NEC in Birmingham. To find out more, follow on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/grenfellmemorialquilt/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/grenfellquilt?lang=en">Twitter</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynn Setterington does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What started out as an instinctive and private response to trauma has become a collective process of grieving and commemoration.Lynn Setterington, Senior Lecturer Textiles in Practice, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1826862022-06-08T13:57:17Z2022-06-08T13:57:17ZHow nanotechnology can revive Nigeria’s textile industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463265/original/file-20220516-12-9rfjk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yannick Folly/AFP via Getty Images </span> </figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria’s cotton production has fallen steeply in recent years. It once supported the <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2019/04/nigeria-moves-revive-textile-industry/">largest</a> textile industry in Africa. The fall is due to weak demand for cotton and to poor yields resulting from planting <a href="https://www.sunnewsonline.com/how-nigerias-losing-6-5bn-cotton-export-revenue/#:%7E:text=Lack%20of%20improved%20seeds%2C%20access,export%20opportunities%20in%20cotton%20annually.">low-quality cottonseeds</a>. For these reasons, farmers switched from cotton to other crops.</p>
<p>Nigeria’s cotton <a href="https://msmestoday.com/agribusiness/production/nigerias-cotton-production-to-account-for-20-29-of-africas-production-by-2029/">output</a> fell from 602,400 tonnes in 2010 to 51,000 tonnes in 2020. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the country’s <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2019/04/nigeria-moves-revive-textile-industry/">textile industry</a> had 180 textile mills employing over 450,000 people, supported by about 600,000 cotton farmers. <a href="https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/analysis/fabric-society-textiles-look-make-comeback-thanks-abundance-raw-materials">By 2019</a>, there were 25 textile mills and 25,000 workers. </p>
<p>The industry competes in a global textile market that was <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/textile-market">valued</a> at US$ 993.6 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a rate of 4.0% from 2022 to 2030. Once the continent’s leader, Nigeria <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/12/nigeria-spends-4-billion-to-import-textiles-yearly/">spends</a> on average US$4 billion a year to import textiles that it could produce itself. Imports put pressure on foreign exchange reserves, jobs and local demand for cotton.</p>
<p>Technical innovation could make the textile sector more competitive – not only by <a href="https://jcottonres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42397-021-00092-6">improving cotton</a> production but also by improving textile quality. This can be achieved in Nigeria. </p>
<p>Nowadays, textiles’ properties can be greatly improved through nanotechnology – the use of extremely small materials with special properties. Nanomaterials like graphene and silver nanoparticles <a href="https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=5501">make</a> textiles stronger, durable, and resistant to germs, radiation, water and fire.</p>
<p>Adding nanomaterials to textiles <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1387700322002350">produces</a> nanotextiles. These are often “smart” because they respond to the external environment in different ways when combined with electronics. They can be <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5123575">used</a> to harvest and store energy, to release drugs, and as sensors in different applications. </p>
<p>Nanotextiles are increasingly used in defence and healthcare. For hospitals, they are used to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3688167/">produce</a> bandages, curtains, uniforms and bedsheets with the ability to kill pathogens. The <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1038209/global-nanotextiles-market-value/">market value</a> of nanotextiles was US$5.1 billion in 2019 and could reach US$14.8 billion in 2024. </p>
<p>At the moment, Nigeria is not benefiting from nanotextiles’ economic potential as it produces none. With over <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/data/world-population/NG">216 million people</a>, the country should be able to support its textile industry. It could also explore <a href="https://www.cbn.gov.ng/MonetaryPolicy/afcfta.asp">trading opportunities</a> in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to market innovative nanotextiles. </p>
<h2>Nanotextiles in Nigeria</h2>
<p>Our nanotechnology research group has made the first attempt to produce nanotextiles using cotton and silk in Nigeria. We used <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352186421007252">silver</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1387700322002350">silver-titanium oxide</a> nanoparticles produced by locust beans’ wastewater. <a href="https://www.feedipedia.org/node/268">Locust bean</a> is a multipurpose tree legume found in Nigeria and some other parts of Africa. The seeds, the fruit pulp and the leaves are used to prepare foods and drinks. </p>
<p>The seeds are used to <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/655/1/012012/meta">produce</a> a local condiment called “iru” in southwest Nigeria. The processing of iru generates a large quantity of wastewater that is not useful. We used the wastewater to reduce some compounds to produce silver and silver-titanium nanoparticles in the laboratory.</p>
<p>Fabrics were dipped into nanoparticle solutions to make nanotextiles. Thereafter, the nanotextiles were exposed to known bacteria and fungi. The growth of the organisms was monitored to determine the ability of the nanotextiles to kill them.</p>
<p>The nanotextiles prevented growth of several pathogenic bacteria and black mould, making them useful as antimicrobial materials. They were active against germs even after being washed five times with detergent. Textiles without nanoparticles did not prevent the growth of microorganisms.</p>
<p>These studies showed that nanotextiles can kill harmful microorganisms including those that are resistant to drugs. Materials such as air filters, sportswear, nose masks, and healthcare fabrics produced from nanotextiles possess excellent antimicrobial attributes. Nanotextiles can also promote wound healing and offer resistance to radiation, water and fire. </p>
<p>Our studies established the value that nanotechnology can add to textiles through hygiene and disease prevention. Using nanotextiles will promote good health and well-being for sustainable development. They will assist to reduce infections that are caused by germs.</p>
<p>Despite these benefits, nanomaterials in textiles can have some unwanted effects on the environment, health and safety. Some nanomaterials can harm human health causing irritation when they come in contact with skin or inhaled. Also, their release to the environment in large quantities can harm lower organisms and reduce growth of plants. We recommend that the impacts of nanotextiles should be evaluated case by case before use.</p>
<h2>Reviving Nigeria’s textile sector</h2>
<p>In addition to <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/06/02/emefiele-revival-of-cotton-textile-industries-critical-for-economic-recovery/">government’s efforts</a> to revive Nigeria’s textile sector, opportunities in nanotechnology should be explored. Smart nanotextiles that can compete favourably with foreign textiles could be produced locally. </p>
<p>Agriculture can <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnano.2020.579954/full">benefit</a> from nanopesticides, nanofungicides and nanofertilizers boosting crop yield. This has been <a href="https://jcottonres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42397-021-00092-6">applied</a> to cotton farming. Nanotechnology is also useful to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214785320326341">treat effluents</a> of the textile industry in an eco-friendly manner. </p>
<p>Together with higher cotton production, nanotextile products can return Nigeria’s textile industry to glory. This is a unique way to improve Nigeria’s economy by nanotechnology.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nanotechnology-has-much-to-offer-nigeria-but-research-needs-support-180918">Nanotechnology has much to offer Nigeria but research needs support</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agbaje Lateef receives funding from TETFund. </span></em></p>Together with higher cotton production, nanotextile products can boost Nigeria’s textile industry and the economy.Agbaje Lateef, Professor of Microbiology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822152022-05-04T12:03:07Z2022-05-04T12:03:07ZPFAS are showing up in children’s stain- and water-resistant products – including those labeled ‘nontoxic’ and ‘green’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461113/original/file-20220503-26-3ghvsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C6013%2C3987&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stain-resistance can mean questionable chemicals in children's clothes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smiling-little-muddy-girl-royalty-free-image/1059735838">VM via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Even if children’s stain- or water-resistant clothes are advertised as “green” or “nontoxic,” they might still contain PFAS, a group of manufactured “forever chemicals” that have been linked to a wide range of health problems in children.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c05175">new study</a>, colleagues and I tested more than 90 water- and stain-resistant children’s items that are easily available in stores and online.</p>
<p>The results were eye-opening. We found PFAS in school uniforms, pillows, upholstered furniture and several other items. None of those products’ labels warned that toxic manufactured chemicals were present. In fact, many of them were advertised as nontoxic or green.</p>
<h2>What’s wrong with PFAS?</h2>
<p>PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of over 9,000 chemicals that contain a carbon-fluorine bond and are used for their persistent characteristics, such as their ability to withstand water, heat and grease. </p>
<p>These chemical are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EM00291G">all around us</a> – they are used in nonstick cookware, greaseproof food packaging, water-resistant clothing, touch screens and plastic molding, as well as firefighting foams and industrial processes. They get into water, soil, dust and the air people breathe, and they can <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/PFAS_FactSheet.html">bioaccumulate</a> in animals. </p>
<p>They have also been found in the blood of over 98% of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4092">Americans</a> tested and in the farthest reaches of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/es001834k">Earth</a>. The relatively few PFAS that have been studied for their impact on humans have been shown to have associations with a <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/health-effects/index.html">wide range of health problems</a>, such as cancers, increased cholesterol, interference with natural hormones and reduced vaccine response in children.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460655/original/file-20220501-15-bl3si8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic show types of products including water-resistant clothes, stain-resistant products, makeup, firefighting foam, cleaning products and food packaging" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460655/original/file-20220501-15-bl3si8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460655/original/file-20220501-15-bl3si8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460655/original/file-20220501-15-bl3si8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460655/original/file-20220501-15-bl3si8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460655/original/file-20220501-15-bl3si8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460655/original/file-20220501-15-bl3si8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460655/original/file-20220501-15-bl3si8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These are a few examples of other products that can contain PFAS.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://riversideca.gov/press/understanding-pfas">City of Riverside, California</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Children’s exposure to PFAS is of particular concern because children’s smaller size, developing bodies and changing hormones and physiology may make them more susceptible to effects from PFAS. A <a href="http://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14070691">review of children’s exposure to PFAS and the health effects</a> found evidence of associations between PFAS levels in the blood and changes in the age when children first begin menstruating; other findings included changes in kidney function and immune responses, along with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560891/">dyslipidemia</a>, an imbalance of fats in the blood, which can put children at risk for cardiovascular disease.</p>
<h2>What we found in children’s products</h2>
<p>Previous studies have found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114940">PFAS present in children’s clothing</a>, some of which are advertised as “functional” fabrics with features such as water resistance. We sought to test whether the information on children’s product labels, specifically products advertised as stain- or water-resistant, would predict the presence of PFAS.</p>
<p>We also wanted to know if products advertised or certified as “green” or “nontoxic” indicated the absence of PFAS.</p>
<p>We looked at 93 products used by children or adolescents that fell into three broad product types: apparel, bedding and furnishings. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c05175">Initial tests</a> showed that 54 of those products had measurable levels of total fluorine, indicating the presence of PFAS. Our study partners at <a href="https://alphalab.com/">Alpha Analytical</a> then tested those products for 36 individual PFAS.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A grinning baby boy crawls toward the camera through thick white carpet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461115/original/file-20220503-18-g6watl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461115/original/file-20220503-18-g6watl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461115/original/file-20220503-18-g6watl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461115/original/file-20220503-18-g6watl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461115/original/file-20220503-18-g6watl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461115/original/file-20220503-18-g6watl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461115/original/file-20220503-18-g6watl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PFAS shows up in stain-resistant carpet and furniture textiles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/baby-learning-to-crawl-royalty-free-image/892096000">FatCamera via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>We found that products advertised as water- and stain-resistant were more likely than other products to have detectable levels of total fluorine and higher levels of PFAS, though not all of them included PFAS. None of the other products had detectable levels of the PFAS chemicals that we tested for, though some had measurable levels of total fluorine.</p>
<p>Water- or stain-resistant products advertised as “green” or “nontoxic” had similar detections of PFAS and total fluorine levels to water- or stain-resistant products without any green assurances.</p>
<p>The product categories that had the highest measurements of PFAS were clothing, including school uniforms; pillow and mattress protectors; and upholstery from children’s furniture.</p>
<p>While our study didn’t measure exposure, there is potential for children in contact with these products to be exposed to PFAS compounds, including many we did not measure, such as volatile PFAS that can be inhaled. Studies have shown that with wear and washing, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126100">PFAS can leach out</a> of durable or functional textiles, leading to increased potential for exposure and environmental contamination.</p>
<h2>What can be done about it?</h2>
<p>While more research is needed to quantify PFAS exposures from clothing and other children’s products, it’s worth asking why these chemicals are added to these products in the first place. The truth is that children are messy, and buying white clothing or using light carpeting in heavily trafficked rooms is just not practical.</p>
<p>The Environmental Protection Agency has been <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pfas">considering federal rules</a> to limit PFAS use and possibly declare them hazardous substances. <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/cercla-pfas-concerns-grow-among-some-states">It’s a complicated debate</a> with implications for the companies that make these chemicals and the products that contain them, and even for landfills and wastewater treatment plants.</p>
<p><iframe id="BSxTp" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/BSxTp/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Several states aren’t waiting. <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB652">California recently passed a law</a> that will phase out PFAS in children’s products. <a href="https://dtsc.ca.gov/scp/carpets-and-rugs-with-perfluoroalkyl-and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfass/">California</a>, <a href="https://mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=HP1113&item=5&snum=130">Maine</a>, <a href="https://vermontbiz.com/news/2021/may/20/governor-scott-signs-first-nation-restrictions-toxic-pfas-chemicals">Vermont</a> and <a href="https://www.ncelenviro.org/articles/washington-state-legislation-addresses-pfas-chemicals/">Washington</a> have banned PFAS in carpets and rugs. <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/maine-pfas-products-bill-most-far-reaching-to-date">Maine has gone further</a> to phase out non-essential use of PFAS in consumer products sold in the state by 2030. Several other states are considering <a href="https://www.saferstates.org/toxic-chemicals/pfas/">limits or bans</a> on some or all PFAS in different uses, including firefighting foams, drinking water, food packaging and ski wax.</p>
<p>As someone who buys used clothing, which doesn’t come with tags, for my children, I am concerned about exposure to PFAS. As our study showed, it’s hard to know when an item contains PFAS.</p>
<p>Certifiers of “green” products could help by ensuring that they include PFAS in their criteria. The precautionary principle would suggest avoiding noncritical uses of PFAS in general.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to correct the description of Maine’s PFAS rules.</em> </p>
<p>[<em>Get science, health and technology stories from The Conversation <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=science&source=inline-science-favorite">in your inbox each Wednesday</a></em>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Rodgers has been supported by grants from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and charitable donations to Silent Spring Institute. She was a staff scientist at Silent Spring Institute from 2012-2021.</span></em></p>Tests found PFAS in school uniforms, pillows, upholstered furniture and several other items that are often next to children’s skin and near their noses and mouths.Kathryn Rodgers, Ph.D. Student in Environmental Health, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1787832022-04-13T20:33:36Z2022-04-13T20:33:36ZCurious Kids: how is fabric made?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456533/original/file-20220406-22-i84cbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4056%2C2817&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/craftsman-using-old-spinning-wheel-turn-1479103070">Shuttershock</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p><strong>How is fabric made? – Saskia, age 5, Sydney</strong></p>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291898/original/file-20190911-190031-enlxbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>Hi Saskia, that’s a great question! </p>
<p>From clothes to curtains, towels and sheets, fabrics are everywhere in our daily lives. You might also hear people call them “textiles”. </p>
<p>People have been making fabric, or textiles, for a very long time. In fact, they’ve been doing it for almost 35,000 years!</p>
<p>Let’s first think about what a fabric is. The dictionary says fabric is a cloth made by knitting or weaving together <em>fibres</em>. </p>
<h2>What is a fibre?</h2>
<p>A fibre is like a strand of hair. It’s very long and thin.</p>
<p>Fibres can come from nature. Some common natural fibres are cotton, silk and wool. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A branch of cotton laid across a wooden table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456529/original/file-20220406-20-chr9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456529/original/file-20220406-20-chr9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456529/original/file-20220406-20-chr9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456529/original/file-20220406-20-chr9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456529/original/file-20220406-20-chr9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456529/original/file-20220406-20-chr9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456529/original/file-20220406-20-chr9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Raw cotton as it is found on the branch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cotton-plant-buds-over-wooden-background-290823218">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Humans have also found ways to make fibres ourselves in the past 150 years. We can use technology to turn oil into fibres. We can even make special fibres to make your raincoat waterproof, or make a soldier’s vest bullet-proof. </p>
<p>But how can these thin, hair-like fibres be made into something we can wear?</p>
<h2>From fibre to yarn</h2>
<p>First, we need to put the fibres together to make long strings of yarn. This can be tricky because many fibres are quite short, especially natural ones. </p>
<p>A cotton fibre is usually only around 3cm long. That’s shorter than a paper clip. Wool is usually cut from a sheep when it is 7.5cm long – about the length of a crayon. </p>
<p>We twist these shorter fibres together to make a longer yarn. The twisting makes the fibres rub together and grip to each other. This is called <em>yarn spinning</em>. </p>
<h2>Yarn spinning</h2>
<p>The first step of yarn spinning involves taking bundle of fibres, lining them up, them combing them like you comb your hair … or how you might comb a long beard! In fact, when we’ve combed them into a sheet, we call it a “beard”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hand holding raw wool spinning it into yarn." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456524/original/file-20220406-22-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456524/original/file-20220406-22-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456524/original/file-20220406-22-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456524/original/file-20220406-22-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456524/original/file-20220406-22-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456524/original/file-20220406-22-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456524/original/file-20220406-22-19224l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Before we can make wool into fabric, it needs to be spun into yarn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-hands-woman-demonstrating-traditional-wool-150051644">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Next, the sheet is stretched into a long tube. As it stretches, it becomes thinner and thinner. Then we twist it to form a yarn. This delicate sheet of fibres may have been metres wide to begin with, but we twist it into a thin thread. </p>
<p>There are all types of yarn threads. They can be thin, thick, hard, soft, stretchy, or even ones you can’t cut! It all depends on the starting fibre and the machine settings. </p>
<h2>Turning yarn into fabric</h2>
<p>Once we have our yarn, we’re ready to make fabric. There are many ways do this, such as weaving, knitting or felting. </p>
<p><em>Weaving</em> crosses the yarns over and under in a chessboard pattern. <em>Knitting</em> makes loops that pass through each other. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman weaves pink and yellow yarns into frabric using wooden poles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456530/original/file-20220406-18-icfn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456530/original/file-20220406-18-icfn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456530/original/file-20220406-18-icfn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456530/original/file-20220406-18-icfn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456530/original/file-20220406-18-icfn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456530/original/file-20220406-18-icfn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456530/original/file-20220406-18-icfn7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Weaving yarn into fabric can be done by hand, or by machine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-typical-guatemalan-dress-weaving-colored-1897092847">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Felting</em> is when we get wool fibres wet and soapy. We rub the fibres together until they are all tangled up. Then we press the fibres into a flat sheet called felt.</p>
<p>Weaving, knitting and felting can be very slow if you do them by hand! These days we often use machines to speed things up.</p>
<h2>How fabric is made</h2>
<p>So we start with the fibre. Then we spin it into long strings of yarn. Next we weave, knit or felt the yarn into fabric. And that, Saskia, is how we make fabric. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ken Aldren S. Usman receives funding from Deakin University's Post-graduate Research (DUPR) Scholarship Grant.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dylan Hegh receives funding from Australian National Fabrication Facility, IMCRC and Sustainability Victoria</span></em></p>From fibre to fabric. The process of making textiles has been important to humans for almost 35,000 years.Ken Aldren S. Usman, PhD Candidate, Deakin UniversityDylan Hegh, Manager - Circular Economy Initatives and ANFF-Deakin Hub, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1572542021-04-13T14:43:15Z2021-04-13T14:43:15ZFifty years, five problems - and how Nigeria can work with China in future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392810/original/file-20210331-13-1oqs43e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vendors in front of their shop in China Town, Ojota, Lagos</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vendors-sit-in-front-of-their-shop-in-the-deserted-china-news-photo/1203737316?adppopup=true">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since establishing diplomatic relations on <a href="http://ng.china-embassy.org/eng/zngx/cne/t142490.htm">10 February 1971</a>, Nigeria’s relationship with China has developed into one of the most important bilateral relationships maintained by either country. </p>
<p>Apart from the exchange of high level visits, Chinese companies and money have found their way into Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy. They are involved in <a href="https://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1007%2Fs11366-016-9453-8?author_access_token=WPKvbExnHCczCqgM0LI_Hve4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY7OLvXN-XgPiWgO5WDqKEtaTSOh-plEmXHRWQp1VgNkOrh4kU-Bs4v4HZ-lddROqoFazhV8tFcaZvfUEQCEf6kV1IHlJiRJsOMU13MAf4YvUQ==">a variety of major projects</a> in Nigeria. </p>
<p>As at 31 March 2020, Chinese loans to Nigeria stood at <a href="https://www.dmo.gov.ng/facts-about-chinese-loans-to-nigeria">US$3.121 billion</a>, which is 11.28% of the country’s external debt of US$27.67 billion. The growing trade and presence of Chinese finance in Nigeria has also led to changing narratives about <a href="https://za.boell.org/en/2018/10/09/nigerian-migrants-china-changing-narrative">increased</a> migration on both sides.</p>
<p>Over the years, Nigeria’s relationship with China has broadened and deepened with China’s growing power and interest in securing its regional interests (particularly within the South China Sea), and taking its place as a major global actor. Although Nigeria has largely stayed away from China’s fairly assertive regional posture, it’s affirmation of a commitment to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38285354">‘One-China Policy’</a> has been important to China. Nigeria demonstrated this by the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-nigeria/taiwan-says-nigeria-wants-it-to-move-its-trade-office-from-abuja-idUSKBN14W0IX">forced relocation</a> of Taiwan trade office from Abuja to Lagos in 2017.</p>
<p>The governments of both Nigeria and China often describe their relationship as a <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-11/06/c_137585555.htm">“win win”</a> partnership – a term China often <a href="https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-06-28/President-Xi-China-Africa-cooperation-always-produces-win-win-results-HTaBDoIaDC/index.html">uses</a> to describe its relationships with other African countries.</p>
<p>During former Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Nigeria in 2006, his host and then Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, <a href="https://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1007%2Fs11366-016-9453-8?author_access_token=WPKvbExnHCczCqgM0LI_Hve4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY7OLvXN-XgPiWgO5WDqKEtaTSOh-plEmXHRWQp1VgNkOrh4kU-Bs4v4HZ-lddROqoFazhV8tFcaZvfUEQCEf6kV1IHlJiRJsOMU13MAf4YvUQ==">remarked</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>From our assessment, this twenty-first century is the century for China to lead the world. And when you are leading the world, we want to be close behind you. When you are going to the moon, we don’t want to be left behind.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Bitter sweet mixture</h2>
<p>But 50 years of Nigeria-China relations has been a bitter-sweet mixture. At independence, Nigeria’s pro-British and pro-West foreign policy <a href="https://www.ijrhss.org/papers/v6-i11/1.pdf">had no dedicated space or support</a> for communist China.</p>
<p>During the <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/nigerian-civil-war-1967-1970/">Nigeria-Biafra war</a>, the Nigerian government received arms support the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319766091_Strange_Bedfellows_An_Unlikely_Alliance_between_the_Soviet_Union_and_Nigeria_during_the_Biafran_War">from USSR</a> - but not China. It has been <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article-abstract/75/298/14/102588?redirectedFrom=PDF">reported</a> that China supported Biafra in terms of small arms and ammunition via Tanzania.</p>
<p>After the war, the Nigerian government <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338739945_Gowon's_Three_R's_and_Yar'Adua's_General_Amnesty_an_Analysis_of_Policy_Failures_Security_Challenges_and_Consequences_in_the_West_African_Atlantic_Seaboard">implemented</a> the 3Rs - reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation. It also visited countries in the West and East. It was within this context that Nigeria, along with other African countries, supported the <a href="https://china.usc.edu/united-nations-admits-peoples-republic-china-october-25-1971">1971 resolution</a> to accept China as a full-fledged member of the UN.</p>
<p>An economic exhibition followed in <a href="http://ng.china-embassy.org/eng/zngx/cne/t792194.htm">1972</a> and <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095902167">Yakubu Gowon</a>, Nigeria’s leader, visited Beijing <a href="https://www.wathi.org/two-distant-giants-china-and-nigeria-perceive-each-other/">in 1974</a>. But it was not until the early 1990s that China assumed an <a href="https://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1007%2Fs11366-016-9453-8?author_access_token=WPKvbExnHCczCqgM0LI_Hve4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY7OLvXN-XgPiWgO5WDqKEtaTSOh-plEmXHRWQp1VgNkOrh4kU-Bs4v4HZ-lddROqoFazhV8tFcaZvfUEQCEf6kV1IHlJiRJsOMU13MAf4YvUQ==">important role</a> in Nigeria.</p>
<p>The backlash from the West over the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/24/world/nigerian-military-rulers-annul-election.html">annulment</a> of the June 1993 presidential election forced Nigeria to look more towards China.</p>
<p>Thus, China became an important element for Nigeria’s response to Western sanctions and other forms of pressures, and strategies to force a preferred political outcome. China’s <a href="https://www.stimson.org/2019/conflict-mediation-chinese-characteristics-how-china-justifies-its-non-interference-policy/">non-interference policy</a> in the domestic affairs of other countries fitted well into <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54929254">Sani Abacha</a>’s ultimate goal of becoming a civilian president. The period also coincided with the early beginnings of Beijing’s own “going global” policy that saw it unleash abroad its economic influence and multinational companies.</p>
<p>Under Abacha, an agreement was signed in 1995 with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to take up projects -although some reports trace the company’s entrance into the Nigerian market to 1981. What is clear is that Nigeria is the company’s <a href="https://dailytrust.com/we-built-businesses-in-29-states-in-40yrs-ccecc">first overseas market </a>; and currently CCECC works in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states.</p>
<p>Over the last 50 years, the Sino-Nigerian relationship has developed clear patterns. Roughly, the first 20 years may be described as a political phase. The ensuing decade was a mixed era of political and economic features while the last 20 years or so show an intensification of China’s economic presence in Nigeria. Clearly, the relationship has become more economic as China evolved from a political power to a global economic giant.</p>
<p>However, after a half century of official relationship, the time has become ripe for a review of the balance sheet. </p>
<h2>The “win-win” smiles</h2>
<p>China is one of the most important <a href="https://www.dmo.gov.ng/facts-about-chinese-loans-to-nigeria">lenders of development finance to Nigeria</a>. Chinese firms and finance play a prominent role in Nigeria’s infrastructure development. This is <a href="https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2018-04/sr_423_chen_final.pdf">notably in the construction</a> of railway lines and road (re)construction across the country. Some <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-maltreatment-of-nigerians-in-china-may-not-end-soon-137828">examples</a> are the $874 million, 187km Abuja-Kaduna rail; the $1.2 billion, 312km Lagos-Ibadan expressway; the $1.1 billion Kano-Kaduna railway lines and the $600 million airport terminals in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano. </p>
<p>Nigeria is also <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5652847de4b033f56d2bdc29/t/5ea7317f6ed4781cebc9c0ce/1588015487828/WP+36+-+Chen+-+Manufacturing+Nigeria.pdf">one</a> of Africa’s top destinations for Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI). Although accurate figures are <a href="https://www.chinausfocus.com/finance-economy/deciphering-chinese-investment-in-nigeria">difficult</a> to ascertain, it is estimated that about 5% of Chinese FDI stocks in Africa and 4.6% of FDI inflow in 2019 <a href="http://www.sais-cari.org/chinese-investment-in-africa">goes to Nigeria</a>.</p>
<p>Data on trade between the two nations for the first 30 years of their relationship is not available. Nevertheless, more reliable data has been available since 2003. Since then trade between the two nations has increased from <a href="http://ng.china-embassy.org/eng/zngx/cne/t142490.htm">US$1.86 billion</a> to an estimated <a href="https://punchng.com/chinese-companies-investments-in-nigeria-hit-20bn-cccn/">US$20 billion</a> in 2019. Trade flows are in China’s favour, with China running a trade surplus of about US$17.5 billion for the years 2015 to 2018. Nigeria sells crude oil to China and, in turn, buys manufactured goods.</p>
<p>China also contributes to the development of Nigeria’s human capital. Many Nigerian students now <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/09/c_138296964.htm">study</a> in Chinese schools – with a few on scholarship. Chinese companies are also building <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-12/03/c_138602919.htm">education</a> and <a href="https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2016/10/huawei-innovation-experience-center-nigeria">training</a> facilities in Nigeria.</p>
<h2>The underbellies of win-win</h2>
<p>The relationship is not without its problems. Aside from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-maltreatment-of-nigerians-in-china-may-not-end-soon-137828">racism</a> against Nigerians and other black people in China, there are four other problems.</p>
<p>First is the negative impact of Chinese imports on Nigerian industries, of which the biggest casualty has been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/nigeria-china-arrests/nigeria-arrests-45-illegal-chinese-textile-traders-idUKL5E8GNDBM20120523?edition-redirect=uk">textiles</a>.</p>
<p>For example, in Kano - which is considered to be one of the main textiles cities in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4006534?seq=1">northern Nigeria</a>, an estimated <a href="https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/09/02/chinese-textile-materials-send-28000-kano-dyers-out-of-business/">28,000 Nigerians</a> lost their jobs to Chinese imports as at 2015. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s shoe industry has also taken <a href="https://dailytrust.com/how-chinese-products-are-killing-made-in-aba-shoes">a big hit</a>. </p>
<p>The second problem relates to the bad treatment of Nigerian workers by their Chinese employers. There have been many <a href="https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=A3XhCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA191&lpg=PA191&dq=between+the+dragon%27s+gift+and+its+claws&source=bl&ots=Bg8CxNqchq&sig=ACfU3U0RQwuwsBqTK7oqr8dUQV6zpZcsvQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj9-9C-7KzvAhV04uAKHf3lARwQ6AEwEHoECBEQAw#v=onepage&q=between%20the%20dragon's%20gift%20and%20its%20claws&f=false">instances of maltreatment</a> of these workers. This raises questions about the ability of Nigerian government to develop – or enforce – appropriate labour laws and conduct regular inspection of work places.</p>
<p>Third is the issue of <a href="https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/06/17/chinese-prisoners-invade-nigeria/">unsubstantiated claims </a> about Chinese companies in Nigeria. A good example is the claim that <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/rep-raises-concern-over-import-of-chinese-prisoners-to-work-in-nigeria/">China uses its prisoners</a> in construction projects in Nigeria.</p>
<p>The fourth problem relates to Chinese loans to Nigeria, which often generate concerns among citizens. These range from those that believe they are unsustainable to those that claim that the agreements <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/406420-amaechi-explains-sovereignty-clause-in-500m-chinese-railway-loan.html">allow China to take over</a> Nigerian assets. These persist because of the secrecy surrounding the loans.</p>
<h2>Preparing for the next 25-50 years</h2>
<p>Nigeria now needs to prepare for the next 25 to 50 years.</p>
<p>China can continue to play an important role in Nigeria’s development. However, Nigeria must urgently address the negative side of the relationship. </p>
<p>First, Nigeria’s regulatory institutions, including the courts, standards setting bodies, ministries and agencies, must apply the laws of the country without fear or favour.</p>
<p>China has <a href="https://www.today.ng/news/nigeria/chinese-companies-obey-nigerian-labour-laws-foreign-minister-338004">said</a> it will not tolerate Chinese companies disregarding Nigeria’s labour laws. But, it is up to the local regulatory institutions to assert the supremacy of the Nigerian law.</p>
<p>Secondly, Chinese textile firms must be <a href="https://shipsandports.com.ng/between-nigerias-1-2bn-smuggled-textiles-and-chinas-2bn-investment/">encouraged</a> to create employment.</p>
<p>Lastly, people-to-people relationship must also be encouraged and strengthened.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi has previously received research funding or travel support from organisations like the KU Leuven, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Social Science Research Council (SSRC), University of Edinburgh, Lagos State University, Lagos State Government, Chatham House (i.e. Robert Bosch Stiftung), Centre for Population and Environmental Development (CPED), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund), Population Media Center (PMC), Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), Think Tank Initiative, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He is currently an American Council of Learned Societies’ African Humanities Program (ACLS-AHP) postdoctoral fellow, conducting research for a book entitled ‘Imageries of Mao Zedong's China in Ghanaian newspapers, 1957-1976.’ </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ufo Okeke Uzodike is affiliated with African Heritage Institution (AfriHeritage). The institute is a not-for-profit, non-partisan and independent think tank devoted to economic, social and peace research, capacity building, and networking. AfriHeritage’s history dates back to 2001 when operations commenced (nationally and across Africa) under the name “African Institute for Applied Economics'' (AIAE). Its name was changed in 2012 to African Heritage Institution in order to broaden its focus beyond economic issues. Its vision is for a renascent Africa that is democratic, prosperous and a frontline player in the global economy; and its Mission committed its management to work for positive social change through sustained advocacy to promote transparent and effective management and governance of the Nigerian and African economies. </span></em></p>Nigeria and China should work more on the relationship between their citizens so that the two countries can continue to have good bilateral relations.Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi, Faculty member, Department of Political Science, Lagos State UniversityUfo Okeke Uzodike, Honorary Research Professor, Durban University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1482462020-12-17T20:59:37Z2020-12-17T20:59:37ZPandemic sewing surge is a chance to rediscover the practical arts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375718/original/file-20201217-17-1kh601n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C188%2C5406%2C3448&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will the pandemic influence schools' return to practical skills traditionally gained through home economics?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-54262657">sent Britons Googling</a> this past fall when he said “<a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/u-k-s-johnson-on-covid-lockdown-a-stitch-in-time-saves-nine%7E2040764">a stitch in time saves nine</a>” to describe actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The phrase means it’s better to spend a little time solving a little problem now to prevent spending more time on a bigger problem later. As the BBC reported, it’s a sewing reference that can be traced back to 1723. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has brought sewing and craft and their practical uses into the news. Some sewing machine manufacturers saw <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-sewing-surge-pandemic-1.5688198">a shortage as both big-box retailers and small shops experienced a pandemic sewing rush</a>. </p>
<p>Many sewists and crafters <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/sudden-sewing-boom-has-sewing-machine-sellers-scrambling-1.5063122">dusted off their sewing machines or purchased new ones</a> to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/prevention-risks/sew-no-sew-instructions-non-medical-masks-face-coverings.html">begin sewing masks</a>, whether for personal use, for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/business/coronavirus-masks-sewers.html">front-line workers</a> or for sale. Some <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/fashion-masks-coronavirus-1.5508472">fashion designers</a> and large brands <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristenphilipkoski/2020/04/12/30-fashion-brands-pivoting-to-make-stylish-coronavirus-masks/?sh=7306ad311d69">also ramped up mask production</a>.</p>
<p>As a curriculum researcher and a retired home economics teacher, pandemic sewing is a chance for me <a href="http://www.thesa.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Vol32_1Smith.pdf">to revisit the value of education in the practical arts</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man with a sewing machine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375689/original/file-20201217-21-1ps7ixu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375689/original/file-20201217-21-1ps7ixu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375689/original/file-20201217-21-1ps7ixu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375689/original/file-20201217-21-1ps7ixu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375689/original/file-20201217-21-1ps7ixu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375689/original/file-20201217-21-1ps7ixu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375689/original/file-20201217-21-1ps7ixu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tailor Derek Nye Lockwood sews face masks for hospitals on his dining room table in the Spanish Harlem neighbourhood of New York, April 22, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sustainability closer to home</h2>
<p>“A stitch in time saves nine” was a favourite proverb of my grandmother, along with “waste not, want not.” She “turned coats,” <a href="http://www.scholastic.ca/books/view/something-from-nothing">painstakingly taking apart threadbare coats</a>, so that she could turn the fabric inside out and re-stitch the coat to make it look new. As her standard of living improved, she continued to mend, repair, conserve and remake textiles. </p>
<p>Before the mass <a href="https://case.edu/ech/articles/g/garment-industry">rise of garment industries, wealthier people hired seamstresses or tailors for custom-made clothing</a>. Households relied on making and recycling clothes, as well as <a href="https://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/fashion-clothing-industry/domestic-production">buying them either new or secondhand, while relying on skills in the household or local domestic self-employment</a>. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_06.htm">Repair, reuse, make do and don’t throw anything away</a>” was a motto in the Great Depression. The notions of “use it up, wear it out, make do or do without” were <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3377298?seq=1">responses to First and Second World War textile restrictions</a>. </p>
<p>By the turn of the 20th century, with industrialization and globalization “<a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fast-fashion">ready to wear</a>” garments became available. Home sewing continued, but mass produced and industrially manufactured garments, promoted by advertising and easily available in stores and via catalogues gradually reduced home-sewn wear. By the end of the century fast fashion dominated. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-fashion-lies-will-they-really-change-their-ways-in-a-climate-crisis-121033">Fast fashion lies: Will they really change their ways in a climate crisis?</a>
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<p>Ten million tons of clothing waste goes to <a href="https://wrwcanada.com/en/get-involved/resources/textiles-themed-resources/textiles-waste-facts">landfills every year in North America, and 95 per cent of it could be re-used or recycled</a>. We only need to consider this or see the unfair and dangerous working conditions for <a href="https://www.wiego.org/garment-workers">garment industry labourers</a> to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/309019/overdressed-by-elizabeth-l-cline/9781591846543">realize our current</a> clothing <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/554229/fashionopolis-by-dana-thomas">consumption is not sustainable</a>.</p>
<p>Education theorist Madhu Suri Prakash who writes about <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Critical-Conversations-in-Philosophy-of-Education/Kohli/p/book/9781315021430">critical conversations related to</a> environmental education notes that addressing <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Critical-Conversations-in-Philosophy-of-Education/Kohli/p/book/9781315021430">the ecological crisis is connected to our many daily decisions and the basic items we use</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman at a warping machine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375679/original/file-20201217-13-zwzhd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375679/original/file-20201217-13-zwzhd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375679/original/file-20201217-13-zwzhd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375679/original/file-20201217-13-zwzhd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375679/original/file-20201217-13-zwzhd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375679/original/file-20201217-13-zwzhd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375679/original/file-20201217-13-zwzhd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A worker operates a warper at Montreal Cottons Ltd. in Valleyfield, Qué.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO, 1999; National Archives of Canada, PA-116081)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Demise of learning hands-on skills</h2>
<p>Sometimes buried in the stories of pandemic sewing is a comment to the effect that at <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2020/05/08/oklahoma-family-and-consumer-science-teachers-leverage-pandemic-to-teach-home-life-skills/">one time such handicraft was typically taught in schools</a> in home economics classes. </p>
<p>But in some places, home economics (albeit with a variety of labels) is still taught in many schools although <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/06/14/618329461/despite-a-revamped-focus-on-real-life-skills-home-ec-classes-fade-away">somewhat diminished due to the general devaluation of practical education</a>. Sometimes it’s called <a href="https://ofsheea.education">family studies</a>, <a href="https://www.aafcs.org/about/about-us/what-is-fcs">family and consumer science</a> or <a href="https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/teched/home_ec.html">human ecology</a>. </p>
<p>In the past half-century, home economics in higher education was has been downsized, dismantled and in some cases met its demise for a variety of reasons. New arenas of work opportunity and concern were available following the second wave of feminism and in the post-war years <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tupperware-consumer/">marketers capitalized on consumerism as a new patriotic duty</a>.
Home economics had long connected local consumption and production and global ecology, but as education scholar Maresi Nerad argues, <a href="https://www.sunypress.edu/p-2865-the-academic-kitchen.aspx">post-secondary university departments traditionally dominated by women</a> including home economics “were gradually eliminated when administrators no longer found them useful.”</p>
<p>The mantra “<a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.592">bring back home economics education</a>” is sometimes seen in the popular press, following nutrition researchers Alice H. Lichtenstein and David Ludwig’s 2010 article of the same name. </p>
<p>Where home economics still exists, it is often at the margins. Some have argued this is because the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.1993.11076116">knowledge gained is not considered valid</a>. But that premise of epistemological superiority needs to be questioned.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-next-for-schools-after-coronavirus-here-are-5-big-issues-and-opportunities-135004">What's next for schools after coronavirus? Here are 5 big issues and opportunities</a>
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<p>It is in the practical arts where students learn to meet the ordinary and material demands of everyday life and to become, as the American Family and Consumer Science curriculum notes, empowered to “<a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/curriculum-handbook/394/chapters/Overview.aspx">solve the perennial and emerging practical problems of their families, workplaces and community</a>.…” </p>
<p>When one has the necessary resources, time and support, there can also be <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-research-shows-the-arts-promote-mental-health-136668">emotional wellness benefits to making</a> and <a href="https://www.chron.com/life/article/Many-still-reap-satisfaction-from-sewing-1926191.php">doing with one’s hands</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holds up face masks at her sewing studio." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375690/original/file-20201217-13-9wz32m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375690/original/file-20201217-13-9wz32m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375690/original/file-20201217-13-9wz32m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375690/original/file-20201217-13-9wz32m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375690/original/file-20201217-13-9wz32m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375690/original/file-20201217-13-9wz32m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375690/original/file-20201217-13-9wz32m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Suhad Saidam shows stitched images of Santa and Christmas on face masks at her sewing workshop in Gaza City, Dec. 14, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Adel Hana)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Intelligent consumerism</h2>
<p>The values of earlier adages like “a stitch in time” were the foundation of home economics. Home economist <a href="https://sohe.wisc.edu/marlatt-abby-lillian-1869-1943">Abby Marlatt</a>, one of the presenters at the <a href="https://www.lakeplacidhistory.com/home-economics-history">Lake Placid Conferences</a> that were the genesis of home economics, argued that sewing, millinery and dressmaking contributed to intelligent consumerism and social justice. </p>
<p>Early founders of the field chose “home economics” from the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/ecology">Greek <em>oikos</em> meaning home or family (a word also at the root of “ecology”)</a>, and <em>oikonomikos</em> meaning management of a household, frugality and thrift. Lately, home economic scholars such as Eleanore Vaines have <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ482731">highlighted ecology as an enduring theme</a>, explaining that the “home” is our Earth and “economics” is the judicious use of resources. The International Federation of Home Economics <a href="https://www.ifhe.org/about-ifhe/who-we-are">identifies its ultimate goal as achieving sustainable living for all</a>.</p>
<p>Once out of the closet, sewing and all the other practical home-based activities of pandemic times have the potential for utilitarian, psychological and environmental benefits. That is why some designers, makers and consumers are <a href="https://www.fashionrevolution.org/dont-stop-sewing-after-the-pandemic">imploring us not to stop sewing after the pandemic</a> and why <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/june-2018/why-home-economics-classes-still-matter">home economics still matters</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148246/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Gale Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some designers, makers and consumers are imploring us not to stop sewing after the pandemic because of the potential for utilitarian, psychological and environmental benefits.Mary Gale Smith, Sessional lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1364382020-04-21T13:33:53Z2020-04-21T13:33:53ZWhy is used clothing popular across Africa? We found out in Malawi<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329046/original/file-20200420-152567-1kljq2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People shop for used clothing at the busy Gikomba market in Nairobi, Kenya.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The sale of used clothing is a billion-dollar global industry. According to some estimates, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/06/second-hand-clothing-donations-kenya">almost 70% of garments that are donated</a> globally end up on the African continent. </p>
<p>This happens through a complex global supply chain, where donated items that cannot be sold in thrift shops in high-income countries are resold in bulk to commercial textile recyclers. The garments are then sent to sorting centres, often located in the Middle East or Eastern Europe. These are then graded and sorted into bales. The bales are in turn resold to wholesalers on the African continent. </p>
<p>East Africa alone imports over <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/world/africa/east-africa-rwanda-used-clothing.html">$150 million</a> worth of used clothes and shoes, largely from the US and Europe. In 2017, USAID estimated that the industry <a href="https://agoa.info/images/documents/15244/eastafricatradeandinvestmenthubclothingreport-compressed.pdf">employed 355,000</a> people and generated $230 million in government revenue. It also supported the livelihoods of an additional 1.4 million in the East Africa Community bloc. </p>
<p>But scholars have also highlighted the complexities of this billion-dollar industry and how <a href="http://www.clothingpoverty.com/">these commodity chains perpetuate poverty</a>. This has led to a pushback. In 2016, the leaders of <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/EAC-retains-sale-of-second-hand-clothes/2560-5374050-m3gicy/index.html">Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi</a> issued a communiqué outlining a major tariff increase on imported used clothing. The plan was to ban all imports of used clothing by 2019. But the international trade disputes that followed led most countries to back out from implementing the ban. </p>
<p>The pushback rested on two broad sets of arguments. First, there is a widespread belief that the popularity of used clothing contributed to the collapse of the domestic textile industry in many parts of Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. Second, the continued use of used clothing is portrayed as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/politics-hand-clothes-debate-dignity-181005075525265.html">undignified and eroding African pride</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, used clothing continues to enjoy unrivalled popularity in many countries. We sought to establish why by studying the phenomenon in Malawi, where used clothes are known as “kaunjika” (meaning “clothes sold in a heap”). It is a popular and resilient business. </p>
<p>We found that there were important economic and social pull factors behind the popularity of used clothing. We also found little support for the viewpoint that wearing used clothing is an attack on the dignity of African citizens. </p>
<h2>The pull factors</h2>
<p>Between March 2018 and February 2020, we visited local markets and shopping malls and interacted extensively with street vendors, shop keepers, wholesalers and consumers in Blantyre, Limbe, Zomba and Lilongwe. </p>
<p>Our goal was to better understand the widespread popularity of used clothing in Malawi. We were able to identify a number of common factors.</p>
<p><strong>Quality:</strong> Used clothes and shoes sourced from high-income countries were considered to be of far better quality than brand new items available in local markets. Customers were often willing to pay a higher price for used merchandise than comparable new items. </p>
<p>Clothing labels indicating where items were produced were viewed as less important than the source of the donation. For example, kaunjika sourced from China was popular with vendors and customers because of sizes and styles that were more compatible with local preferences. Many vendors also claimed that when compared to clothing produced in China for African markets, clothing that had been produced for the Chinese themselves or for Western markets was of better quality.</p>
<p><strong>Affordability:</strong> Many Malawians cannot afford even the cheapest new garments sold in local stores. Used clothing can be sold at higher prices than new items, mostly to middle income consumers in urban areas. But items that are not considered to be of good quality or style continue to trickle down the supply chain. These items are then sold by vendors operating in more rural areas where consumers with lower purchasing power have even fewer alternatives. </p>
<p><strong>Fashion trends:</strong> Malawian consumers cited fashion trends and the “uniqueness” of imported used clothing as important factors for buying kaunjika. This was particularly the case for the younger generation who had been exposed to international trends and popular culture through social media. People crave “the latest fashion” often not available in the local retail stores. </p>
<p><strong>Low start-up costs:</strong> The buy-in costs for local vendors of used clothing were very low. This created economic opportunities in the informal economy for groups with limited resources to access start-up capital. Several vendors told us that despite starting their businesses with limited funds, they had gradually been able to expand their operations and create employment opportunities. </p>
<p>And although the informal sector is characterised by numerous challenges – poor working conditions, lack of social protection, child labour and loss of tax revenue, to name a few – kaunjika appeared to offer a much needed way for many to earn a living.</p>
<h2>Used clothing and sustainability</h2>
<p>A recent report predicts that the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2f0d90a9-b415-497b-a078-33c047d45ca2?desktop=true&segmentId=d8d3e364-5197-20eb-17cf-2437841d178a#myft:noti">global second-hand clothing market is set to double to $51 billion</a> in the next five years, exceeding fast fashion within a decade. </p>
<p>It is still too early to tell how changing consumption patterns in high-income countries will affect used clothing markets around the world. But what appears certain is that the Malawian consumer, like many on the African continent, will continue to demand access to the same quality, styles and brands as the rest of the world, even if it means buying used clothes “sold in a heap”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136438/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Banik receives funding from the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kaja Elise Gresko receives funding from the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).</span></em></p>There are significant economic and social pull factors behind the popularity of used clothing.Dan Banik, Professor of political science and Director of the Oslo SDG Initiative, University of OsloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1235142019-09-25T05:13:44Z2019-09-25T05:13:44ZPlace Makers review: tapestries interweave traditions with a new sense of place<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293943/original/file-20190925-51421-1s6sj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C22%2C5004%2C3333&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ema Shin's Soft Alchemy (Fertile Heart) 2019,
cotton, wool, wire.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Oleksandr Pogorilyi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The spare, white-walled <a href="https://www.austapestry.com.au/">Australian Tapestry Workshop</a> gallery is very much of its place, a wall of windows fronting the South Melbourne street. Cars, trams and shoppers are just metres away, the occasional pedestrian observing the observer. It’s a stark space ill-suited to introspection, but perhaps apposite given that the eight artists showing here are examining their own place and the intersection of their heritage with life in present-day Australia.</p>
<p>Five are migrant women drawing on textile traditions in exploration of their identity in a contemporary Australian context, although little information is provided to illuminate those traditions. Two or three paragraphs in the free program’s four pages of notes are devoted to each artist and, for all except two, this information is duplicated on a wall plaque. More about the artists, their works and the techniques used might have enabled a more nuanced appreciation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293912/original/file-20190925-51425-y2v3fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C7%2C836%2C1270&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293912/original/file-20190925-51425-y2v3fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C7%2C836%2C1270&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293912/original/file-20190925-51425-y2v3fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293912/original/file-20190925-51425-y2v3fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293912/original/file-20190925-51425-y2v3fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293912/original/file-20190925-51425-y2v3fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293912/original/file-20190925-51425-y2v3fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293912/original/file-20190925-51425-y2v3fq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paula do Prado, El Grito, 2018, cotton, wool, hemp, linen, raffia, Bobbiny cotton rope, twine, paper covered wire, wire, glass seed beads, wooden beads, açai seed beads. 110 x 60 x 5cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Document Photography</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The woven tapestry style associated with the Australian Tapestry Workshop features in some work. Karen migrant Mu Naw Poe learned weaving from her mother and continued it in a refugee camp for 20 years. Once in Australia she undertook an Australian Tapestry Workshop program. Her Night Sky 2018 and Global Warming 2014 are bold, multicoloured geometrics; Faces 2016 is more abstract. The three woven strips of Here We Are Sisters 2018 by noted textile artist <a href="https://people.unisa.edu.au/Kay.Lawrence">Kay Lawrence</a> record the names of participants in a Women’s Wealth Project in traditional European storytelling style.</p>
<p>For <a href="https://emashin.org/home.html">Ema Shin</a>, of Japanese and Korean descent, such techniques are the starting point for two densely woven, three-dimensional works, Soft Alchemy (My Pelvic Bone) 2018 and Soft Alchemy (Fertile Heart) 2019. Referencing her pregnancy and including tufted Korean floral symbols of fertility, she adds padding and wrapped wire to produce an alarming profusion of veins.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293941/original/file-20190925-51438-cd78zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293941/original/file-20190925-51438-cd78zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293941/original/file-20190925-51438-cd78zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293941/original/file-20190925-51438-cd78zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293941/original/file-20190925-51438-cd78zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293941/original/file-20190925-51438-cd78zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293941/original/file-20190925-51438-cd78zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ema Shin’s Soft Alchemy (My Pelvic Bone), 2018, cotton, wool, wire woven tapestry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Oleksandr Pogorilyi</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/melbournenow/artists/lisa-waup.html">Lisa Waup</a>’s works also have a 3D quality. A Gunditjmara and Torres Strait woman, her small, woven vessels combine thread, feathers, found objects, even false hair. Her three-part 2019 series It’s in my DNA symbolises passing her DNA to her children, while the other, Past, Present, Future 2019 references living family and ancestors.</p>
<p>Indigenous Australian <a href="https://www.mirrnongminnie.com.au/">Bronwyn Razem</a> (Gunditjmara/Kirrae Whurrong), a Master Weaver, is keeping alive weaving skills used to create a traditional eel trap and the weaving’s cultural importance. Eel Trap 2018, is precisely that – a metre-long raffia trap, as used by her people in Victoria’s Western District. The program notes she has played a vital role in this trap’s revival but this information is tantalisingly brief.</p>
<p>Somali weaver <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/muhubo-and-hawo-expressing-their-hope-with-the-new-year-2019">Muhubo Suleiman</a>’s Raar 2018 hangs in the window with no identifier, the program revealing who made it and her use of traditional Somalian finger weaving, once essential in nomadic communities, now evoking home in her new country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293949/original/file-20190925-51438-9u0ghr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293949/original/file-20190925-51438-9u0ghr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293949/original/file-20190925-51438-9u0ghr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293949/original/file-20190925-51438-9u0ghr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293949/original/file-20190925-51438-9u0ghr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293949/original/file-20190925-51438-9u0ghr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293949/original/file-20190925-51438-9u0ghr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293949/original/file-20190925-51438-9u0ghr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Muhubo Suleiman with Raar (2018)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Marie-Luise Skibbe</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Three striking beaded works by Uruguayan migrant <a href="https://www.pauladoprado.net/about.html">Paula Do Prado</a>, one of which, El Grito 2018, is on the program cover, are described as using traditional and non-traditional craft techniques and materials. Open shapes are made from beaded wire and blanket-stitched rope. The work is described as “highly personal and autobiographical”, but just how so remains elusive. So, too, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2STUfvAyQy/">Yunuen Perez</a>’s weaving, which draws on Mexican Indigenous stories and traditional textile techniques.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293945/original/file-20190925-51452-1898wq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293945/original/file-20190925-51452-1898wq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293945/original/file-20190925-51452-1898wq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293945/original/file-20190925-51452-1898wq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293945/original/file-20190925-51452-1898wq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293945/original/file-20190925-51452-1898wq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293945/original/file-20190925-51452-1898wq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293945/original/file-20190925-51452-1898wq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artist Yunuen Pérez with Ketzal (2016) and Colibries (Hummingbirds) (2019). Photo: Marie-Luise Skibbe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Marie-Luise Skibbe</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is a small but important exhibition, showcasing textile work by women of extraordinary patience, dexterity and expertise. Traditional techniques are given new life, record reflections, keep history alive and salve divided loyalties by weaving links between home and home. Rich histories, personal and cultural, are embedded in these works but the audience is denied access to these histories given the paucity of information available about them.</p>
<p><em>Place Makers can be viewed at the <a href="https://www.austapestry.com.au/">Australian Tapestry Workshop</a> until December 6. A community workshop will be held on Saturday 16 November</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Green does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Eight artists use textiles to investigate history, self and place in a new exhibition that draws on rich histories, but could use more contextual information in its presentation.Sue Green, Deputy Co-ordinator, Journalism Program, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1198402019-08-27T12:16:05Z2019-08-27T12:16:05ZFive weird and wonderful ways nature is being harnessed to build a sustainable fashion industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289641/original/file-20190827-184229-11kfo12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C3%2C750%2C497&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Enzymatic textile dyes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the greatest challenges faced by the textiles and fashion industry is to make itself more sustainable, not just in terms of economic and labour force issues but in the face of ecological necessity. The production of textiles involves a long chain of complex processes to convert raw materials such as fibres or petroleum into finished fabrics or fashion products. </p>
<p>These processes are <a href="http://www.wrap.org.uk/sustainable-textiles">typically</a> resource intensive, requiring high concentrations of chemicals, large amounts of water and involving high temperatures and long processing times. This commonly results in high energy consumption and waste.</p>
<p>A transition towards a more sustainable textiles and fashion sector requires approaches that can minimise its environmental and social impacts, therefore opting for cleaner manufacturing processes which can dramatically reduce carbon emissions and water use and eliminate the use of harmful chemicals. </p>
<p>Here are five ways nature is being explored by individuals, research teams and industry to help make fashion more sustainable. Scientists are uncovering and exploiting underlying mechanisms and models found in nature to design new materials, processes and products as well as systems of production for the future. </p>
<p>These range from traditional to contemporary processes that use low or high-tech methods, practised by artists in their studios to scientists in labs or artists and scientists working together collaboratively. </p>
<h2>Enzymes as new design tools</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.chemistryworld.com/feature/the-enzyme-hunters/8306.article">Enzymes</a> are highly specific <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/biocatalyst">biocatalysts</a> found within the cells of all living organisms. They offer the possibility of manufacturing textiles using simpler and less severe processing conditions which can reduce the consumption of chemicals, energy and water and the generation of waste. As a result, enzymes have successfully replaced a range of industrial textile processes, since they started being used in the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232089163_Application_of_enzymes_for_textile_fibres_processing">early part of the 20th century</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/cellulase">Cellulases</a> and another group of enzymes called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/laccase">laccases</a> are used in the production of stonewashed denim fabrics and garments. Stonewashed effects on indigo dyed cotton denim used to be created by pumice stones – but the use of pumice stones caused damage to both fibres and machines. </p>
<p>Working with colleagues from De Montfort University, I have been investigating the possibilities of using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cote.12350">laccase</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.079">protease</a> as creative design tools to make industrial textile processes more sustainable. </p>
<p>In our research we used enzymes to synthesise <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cote.12350">textile dyes</a> and pattern fabrics using ambient processing conditions, such as temperatures as low as 50°C at atmospheric pressure. We now have ways to create many different colours with just a slight alteration of processing conditions, reacting enzymes and compounds together in various different conditions in a technique that eliminates the need to use pre-manufactured dyes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289599/original/file-20190827-184192-18k1s2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289599/original/file-20190827-184192-18k1s2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289599/original/file-20190827-184192-18k1s2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289599/original/file-20190827-184192-18k1s2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289599/original/file-20190827-184192-18k1s2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1401&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289599/original/file-20190827-184192-18k1s2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289599/original/file-20190827-184192-18k1s2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1401&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Examples of one-step laccase-catalysed coloration of textiles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New ways to make leather</h2>
<p><strong>From collagen:</strong> The area of synthetic biology is growing at a rapid rate, and as a result many companies such as New York-based Modern Meadow are exploring the possibilities this area of modern science offers. The company has successfully bio-fabricated a <a href="http://www.modernmeadow.com/">leather alternative called Zoa</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1081564486992084992"}"></div></p>
<p>The advanced material is constructed from collagen (a protein) – the main component of natural leather – but Zoa is designed and grown in a lab from animal-free collagen derived from yeast. </p>
<p>The material is capable of replicating the qualities of leather and offers new design aesthetics and performance properties not previously possible – while also eliminating the high environmental impact of raising cows and tanning their hides (which is often a toxic process).</p>
<p><strong>From fungi:</strong> Similarly, San Francisco-based MycoWorks – among others – has been exploring the possibilities of creating sustainable materials using fungi. Mycelium, (a mushroom root material) which is grown from fungi and agricultural byproducts is custom engineered in a lab using a carbon negative process. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289643/original/file-20190827-184234-mcgoci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289643/original/file-20190827-184234-mcgoci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289643/original/file-20190827-184234-mcgoci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289643/original/file-20190827-184234-mcgoci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289643/original/file-20190827-184234-mcgoci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289643/original/file-20190827-184234-mcgoci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289643/original/file-20190827-184234-mcgoci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mushroom leather made using mycelium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MycoWorks</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is easy to cultivate, fast growing and can be easily manipulated to adopt the properties similar to leather and many other mainstream materials such as wood and polystyrene. </p>
<h2>Field work</h2>
<p><strong>Grass roots</strong>: An interesting project by the artist Diana Scherer called Interwoven explores the fabrication of materials using living plant networks which could be used to construct garments of the future. She has developed a process which manipulates oat and wheat plant roots to grow intricate lace-like textile materials. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ySuzQ5TE3Eo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>She buries templates in the soil that act as moulds, which manipulates and channels the plants root systems to reveal woven structures constructed from geometrics and delicate motifs once the fabric is excavated. </p>
<p><strong>Cow manure:</strong> In a circular economy model, nothing is considered waste. In the Netherlands, a <a href="https://www.inspidere.com/mestic/">company called Inspidere</a> has developed a method <a href="https://www.amberoot.com/future-of-fashion-innovative-fabric-mestic-fibre/">it has called Mestic</a> that uses cow manure to produce new textiles. The processing method enables cellulose to be extracted from manure to produce two materials, viscose and cellulose acetate.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"854169510307401737"}"></div></p>
<p>The manure is separated and processed in a lab to extract pure cellulose, which is further processed to create viscose (regenerated cellulose) and cellulose acetate (bio-plastic), both of which can be turned into textiles. The group have achieved lab-scale success, the challenge remains to scale this process up commercially. </p>
<p>These are just a few of the ways in which nature is being harnessed to provide the textile and fashion industry with realistic and viable options to move towards sustainability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chetna Prajapati has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for the LEBIOTEX Project (AH/J002666/1), a collaborative project between Loughborough University and De Montfort University. </span></em></p>Science is helping turn textiles into a cleaner greener industry.Chetna Prajapati, Lecturer in Textiles, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1098542019-03-21T15:58:47Z2019-03-21T15:58:47ZSix simple ways to fill your wardrobe with sustainable clothing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255615/original/file-20190125-108342-1arvkem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-multiracial-couple-having-fun-clothing-1017455884?src=Vj3q1EHVdGv2l6pdKiOniQ-1-2">View Apart/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The environmental impact of fashion waste is overwhelming. Every year the UK alone sends <a href="http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/VoC%20FINAL%20online%202012%2007%2011.pdf">350,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill</a>. And as the majority of garments are made from <a href="https://goodonyou.eco/material-guide-polyester-2/">oil-based materials like polyester</a> – 22.67 billion tonnes of polyester clothing is produced every year worldwide – they aren’t going anywhere fast. Oil doesn’t decompose, and if burned the material will release harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. There are also problems associated with trimmings such as buttons, zips, studs and interfacing or lining. When buried with other waste in landfill, the combination of metal components, moisture and heat causes <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/09/old-clothes-fashion-waste-crisis-494824.html">gases such as methane</a> to be emitted. </p>
<p>In response to this, and other elements of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLfNUD0-8ts">fast fashion crisis</a>, the industry is changing.
Some brands have <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47282136">introduced recycling schemes</a> to address what happens to their products post-purchase. And the UK’s Environmental Audit Committee <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/throwaway-fashion-charge-recycling-environment-sustainability-mary-creagh-a8784666.html">recently recommended a penny charge</a> on each garment sold to fund more and better clothing collection and recycling schemes.</p>
<p>But while the push for a more sustainable fashion market is in its early days, we as individuals can still make easy choices right now to have a more environmentally-friendly style. Here are six simple ways to create a wardrobe filled with more sustainable clothing.</p>
<h2>1. Reeducate yourself</h2>
<p>Don’t bury your head in the sand. Buying cheaply-made fast fashion can only mean that prices have been driven down hard. The smallest cost paid will be <a href="https://qz.com/1186813/top-fashion-ceos-earn-a-garment-workers-lifetime-pay-in-just-four-days-oxfam-says/">to the factory worker who stitched your clothes</a>. Seek out your favourite stores’ websites for their corporate social responsibility statements. This explains what are they doing for sustainability, and will help you decide whether it is a business you want to support. If their aims are unclear, take action – write to the head office and ask for change. It might be that you’re adding another voice to a group of concerns, or it could help them see something that they have missed.</p>
<h2>2. Buy for longevity</h2>
<p>Even if you’re a firm follower of the latest trends, you can still implement this advice. When looking at new pieces, be confident in your own style and ask yourself whether you will want to wear the piece again in six months’ time. If you believe it will last for quite some time in your fashion forward wardrobe then go ahead and buy it. Similarly, consider whether you can mix it with things you already have – there’s no use buying a new top if you don’t think it will go with anything else you own already.</p>
<h2>3. Restyle your wardrobe</h2>
<p>You might feel like you have nothing to wear but a fresh look at what you already own can help you see things in a new light. Try asking friends how they’d pair your garments in different ways, or use magazines and social media for inspiration. You don’t have to buy exactly the same outfit as you see modelled elsewhere. Figure out what you like best from that style – perhaps it’s the combination of colour or prints – and see how you can imitate it using what you own.</p>
<h2>4. Repair any damage</h2>
<p>You don’t need to be a professional tailor to fix any damage to clothes. An unattached seam or button that has fallen off can be easily sorted out. If you don’t know where to start, there are plenty of YouTube tutorials for beginners which will tell you exactly what you need to do. It’s not expensive to buy a needle and thread either. If it’s something more complicated, find a seamstress or ask someone you know for help. The cost likely won’t be as great as it would be if you were to throw the piece away and buy a new one.</p>
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<h2>5. Shop vintage or charity</h2>
<p>Buying secondhand returns some value to the first owner, or provides a charity retailer with revenue. So long as you’re purchasing a secondhand garment instead of a new item, significant environmental savings will also be made, as no extra production or processing has been done for you to have a new item. Value is also retained within the economy rather than lost to landfill through this circular way of doing business. You don’t even need to venture out to the shops to buy secondhand. Apps and websites like <a href="https://www.depop.com/">Depop</a> and <a href="https://www.ebay.co.uk/">eBay</a> are popular with individual sellers while charities including <a href="https://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/womens-clothing/designer-boutique">Oxfam boutique</a> and <a href="https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/cancerresearchukshop">Cancer Research UK</a> also sell clothes and accessories online.</p>
<h2>6. Buy locally</h2>
<p>Buying locally means that the manufacture and supply chain is drastically cut down. Quite often the maker or seller will be able to tell you how the item has been made and where the materials have been sourced from. Added to that is the fact that you are supporting the local economy, and a business owner who wants to make just as much of a change in the fashion world as you do.</p>
<p>Clothing manufacture and sale is the <a href="http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/valuing-our-clothes-the-cost-of-uk-fashion_WRAP.pdf">fourth largest pressure on natural resources</a> after housing, transport and food in the UK. Whatever your budget, it’s not too difficult to consider new ways of changing the way you value clothes, leading to a more sustainable fashion lifestyle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109854/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Lees is affiliated with Greenpeace.</span></em></p>Making more sustainable fashion choices doesn’t require a massive lifestyle change.Sarah Lees, Lecturer in Fashion Marketing and Retail Design, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1108782019-02-08T11:33:23Z2019-02-08T11:33:23ZFlorence Knoll Bassett’s mid-century design diplomacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257820/original/file-20190207-174873-8lb3sm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Architect and designer Florence Knoll Bassett poses with her dog, Cartree, in this photograph circa 1950.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Knoll Archive</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The look, feel and functionality of the modern American office can be traced back to the work of one woman.</p>
<p>Florence Knoll Bassett, <a href="https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13884-obituary-florence-knoll-bassett-1917-2019">whom Architectural Record called</a> the “single most powerful figure in modern design,” died at 101 on Jan. 25. </p>
<p>In the early 20th century, offices consisted of rows of dark, heavy desks and chairs, with the executive desk angled toward an office door.</p>
<p>Knoll, who believed that a building’s interior was as important as its exterior, introduced an office aesthetic based on function. She interviewed people about how they did their job so they could do it efficiently and comfortably. She then went on to design products like <a href="https://www.knoll.com/search-results?searchtext=florence%20knoll%20desk&newTab=discover">the Model 1500 series</a> – a desk that allowed drawers and cabinets to be added to the frame based on need.</p>
<p>The press <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0QpwDwAAQBAJ&dq=knoll:+a+modernist+universe&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjM6v67lKrgAhWLnOAKHV2vBQgQ6AEIKjAA">coined a term</a> for her “humanist interpretation of European modernism”: the “Knoll Look.” Her clients included CBS, Connecticut General, Alcoa and the University of Michigan, and you’ll see <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/03/go-behind-scenes-mad-mens-exquisite-set-design/">her influence in mid-century period pieces</a> like “Mad Men.” </p>
<p>The U.S. State Department <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0QpwDwAAQBAJ&dq=knoll:+a+modernist+universe&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjM6v67lKrgAhWLnOAKHV2vBQgQ6AEIKjAA">had also noticed</a> Knoll’s growing reputation. As part of a Cold War propaganda effort to align consumer choice with political choice, they used her and her “look” to help establish and promote an American identity abroad.</p>
<h2>Reimagining the textile</h2>
<p>Knoll attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art, a school that’s considered the birthplace of American modernism, where she was a classmate of future star designers <a href="https://www.dwr.com/designer-charles-and-ray-eames?lang=en_US">Charles and Ray Eames</a>, <a href="https://www.phaidon.com/store/architecture/eero-saarinen-9780714865928/">Eero Saarinen</a>, <a href="https://www.knoll.com/shop/by-designer/harry-bertoia">Harry Bertoia</a> and <a href="https://www.moma.org/artists/309">Benjamin Baldwin</a>.</p>
<p>She eventually moved to New York, where she joined the architectural firm of Harrison & Abromovitz in 1941. While living and working in New York, she met Hans Knoll, the owner of a small furniture company, and she joined his firm in 1943. The couple married in 1946; that same year, the H. G. Knoll Company was renamed “Knoll Associates,” and the Knoll Planning Unit, which focused on interior design, was set up. Florence was named head. </p>
<p>“I am not a decorator,” <a href="https://www.knoll.com/story/shop/the-planning-unit">she famously declared</a> in a 1964 New York Times article that credited her for revolutionizing office design as an architect in a predominantly male profession. </p>
<p>Frustrated by the challenge of finding fabrics suitable for use on modern furniture, <a href="https://www.bgc.bard.edu/research-forum/articles/203/knoll-before-knoll-textiles-1940">Knoll initially used men’s suiting fabrics for upholstery and interiors</a>.</p>
<p>Then, in 1947, Knoll Textiles, which worked closely with the Planning Unit, was launched, giving Knoll the opportunity to develop, market and sell printed and woven textiles. </p>
<p>“Textiles were among the most visible and industrially innovative products produced in the U.S. in the 1950s and impacted many aspects of postwar life,” Berry College historian Virginia Troy told me in an interview. </p>
<p>Wartime rationing, which included clothing and textiles, had ended in 1946. As the economy grew, <a href="http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/outlines/history-1994/postwar-america/the-postwar-economy-1945-1960.php">so did the appetite for textiles</a>. Used for upholstery, curtains and carpeting, they were integral to modern architecture: They could unify open floor plans, serve as dividers and separate work areas from living spaces.</p>
<p>Knoll’s unobtrusive textile designs – which tended to feature subtle colors – often included geometric or <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/b/biomorphic">biomorphic</a> prints and woven fabrics in which <a href="https://www.knoll.com/media/142/457/Honour-Upholstery-10286_m.jpg">vertical and horizontal weaves</a> formed a pattern. </p>
<p>Her textiles were quite different from the <a href="https://www.joann.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-joann-product-catalog/default/dw4aa01aec/images/hi-res/14/14749071.jpg">brocade</a> and chintz <a href="https://ebth-com-production.imgix.net/2017/07/31/13/04/14/39aa2fa3-bfd2-4ad4-8310-997e69274f80/Untitled-1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&w=880&h=880&fit=crop&crop=&auto=format">cabbage roses</a> sold in most of the era’s textile showrooms. </p>
<h2>Branding and selling America abroad</h2>
<p>Around this time, the U.S. government started sponsoring international expositions to introduce the American people and their innovations abroad – what historian Robert Haddow called “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/PAVILIONS_OF_PLENTY.html?id=7jTbAAAAMAAJ">Pavilions of Plenty</a>.” </p>
<p>The most famous is probably the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, during which then-Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev held their “<a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-and-khrushchev-have-a-kitchen-debate">kitchen debate</a>” and argued about the merits of capitalism and communism. </p>
<p>But there were smaller exhibits that preceded the American National Exhibition in Moscow including “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=2gZxM4BdNIMC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=%22How+America+Lives%22+1949&source=bl&ots=hA0qAUwvhl&sig=ACfU3U0vYy-dw0UXxU1Vw49nNIgetNXnLQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjOm7XWpqrgAhVuT98KHZ-3DXkQ6AEwCHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22How%20America%20Lives%22%201949&f=false">How America Lives</a>,” which was held in Frankfurt in 1949, and “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/659392?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">America at Home</a>,” an exhibition in Berlin that took place in 1950. </p>
<p>In 1951, the Traveling Exhibition Service – now called <a href="https://www.sites.si.edu/s/">the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service</a> – asked Knoll to curate and design an exhibit. She had been recommended by Edgar Kaufmann Jr., the director of the Museum of Modern Art’s Good Design program. It also didn’t hurt that Knoll <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Knoll-Modernist-Universe-Brian-Lutz/dp/0847831868">was known in some government circles</a>. She had designed Secretary of War Henry Stimson’s office, and Knoll Associates had outfitted government buildings in the U.S. and Europe.</p>
<p>Titled “Contemporary American Textiles,” Knoll and the Planning Unit designed an exhibit that, like her office designs, was meant to be experienced as a whole. The self-lit aluminum-framed pavilion included its own drop-in floor, and double-sided wall panels assembled from textiles were hung by straps and braced by cross-wires. </p>
<p>For a 2018 exhibit titled “<a href="https://cadvc.umbc.edu/a-designed-life/">A Designed Life</a>,” organized by UMBC’s Center for Art, Design & Visual Culture, I recreated Knoll’s original exhibit using photographs and plans from the Archives of American Art.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257312/original/file-20190205-86195-eigejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257312/original/file-20190205-86195-eigejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257312/original/file-20190205-86195-eigejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257312/original/file-20190205-86195-eigejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257312/original/file-20190205-86195-eigejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257312/original/file-20190205-86195-eigejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257312/original/file-20190205-86195-eigejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257312/original/file-20190205-86195-eigejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For the 2018 exhibit ‘A Designed Life,’ the author rebuilt Knoll’s ‘Contemporary American Textiles.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Meyers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Brightly colored panels were used to make rooms within a room. Sight lines formed by triangular shapes and patterns directed visitors through the exhibit, offering a continuously changing viewpoint <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/florence-knoll-bassett-papers-6312/series-5/box-3-folder-9">described by</a> the magazine Interiors as “kaleidoscopic.”</p>
<p>The display showcased over 150 well-designed, mass-produced and readily available fabrics; in the forward of the accompanying catalog, Knoll described the textiles as “designs of beautiful color in all price ranges.” Over 50 of these fabrics were sold under the Knoll Textile label. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257844/original/file-20190207-174870-ex37y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257844/original/file-20190207-174870-ex37y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257844/original/file-20190207-174870-ex37y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257844/original/file-20190207-174870-ex37y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257844/original/file-20190207-174870-ex37y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257844/original/file-20190207-174870-ex37y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257844/original/file-20190207-174870-ex37y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257844/original/file-20190207-174870-ex37y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The recreated Knoll exhibition allows visitors to participate in the original ‘kaleidoscopic’ experience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Meyers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The goal was to sell the idea of capitalism, America and democracy in a post-war Europe that was anxious to rebuild, and it appeared in West German and Austrian schools, museums and trade fairs.</p>
<p>Government records note that the exhibit was included in the 1952 Berlin Cultural Festival and presented in 1953 in Munich and Essen. The U.S. Embassy in France also sponsored its display in a 1954 Parisian trade show dedicated to household management. </p>
<p>To date, there’s no known physical trace of this exhibit.</p>
<p>Was it thrown away or donated to a German school or museum in order to earn some goodwill? Was it discarded because <a href="https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/177574.pdf">the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act</a>, which authorized international public diplomacy, discouraged the presentation of these exhibitions back in the United States? </p>
<p>I have no way of knowing.</p>
<p>I do know, however, that Knoll was proud of this exhibit: When German architect <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Gropius">Walter Gropius</a> praised it, she wrote that it was “a great honor.” And she included sketches, plans and photographs of “Contemporary American Textiles” in her papers that she donated to the Archives of American Art.</p>
<p>The exhibit is a reminder that one of the country’s most influential designers was also one of its great ambassadors.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110878/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article discusses an exhibition project "A Designed Life" that received from funding the National Endowment for the Arts and the Coby Foundation. The funding is managed through UMBC. I have not received any personal support from these grants.</span></em></p>Knoll is best known for transforming the design of America’s corporate offices. But she was also on the front lines of a State Department effort to promote American ingenuity and capitalism abroad.Margaret Re, Associate Professor of Graphic Design, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/982792018-06-29T10:37:36Z2018-06-29T10:37:36ZWhat’s involved in designing World Cup jerseys?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225165/original/file-20180627-112611-1aqh626.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The designs, materials, cuts and graphics of jerseys are meant to stand out.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Soccer-WCup-The-Jerseys/b3712c3fee784614b57f9690ca3bc13f/44/0">AP Photo/Frank Augstein</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://deadline.com/2018/06/world-cup-to-kick-off-with-tv-audience-of-3-4b-expected-to-watch-deadlines-guide-to-the-soccer-tournament-1202407211/">Nearly 3.5 billion people</a> are expected to watch the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. They’ll all see players wearing a fresh batch of national jerseys, designed by the major sport product manufacturers. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-05/adidas-sees-world-cup-jersey-sales-setting-record-despite-russia">Millions of authentic tops</a> are made <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/22/nikes-nigerian-world-cup-jersey-breaks-sales-records.html">for fans to buy</a>. <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/fake-world-cup-merchandise-seized-in-china">Even more</a> are <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/06/02/counterfeit-sales-set-to-soar-as-nigeria-official-world-cup-jersey-sells-out/">counterfeited</a>.</p>
<p>Before I became a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VxlyNJEAAAAJ&hl=en">professor of sports product design</a> <a href="https://artdesign.uoregon.edu/pd">at the University of Oregon</a>, I spent about 20 years working for a major sports manufacturer on innovative products, for events like the World Cup and the Champions League Final. Sport manufacturers such as Adidas, Nike, New Balance, Puma, Uhlsport, Umbro and Under Armour start research and product development two to three years before a World Cup begins. Jerseys must represent teams’ countries, perform for elite athletes and be desirable for fans. They must also deter counterfeiting, which undermines the only real way jersey manufacturers can recoup their design and production investments.</p>
<h2>Following the rules</h2>
<p>The jerseys must first obey <a href="https://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/51/54/30/equipmentregulations-inhalt-e_neutral.pdf">guidelines set by FIFA</a>, soccer’s international governing body. Some are pretty basic – like making sure players’ jerseys aren’t easily confused with referees’ shirts, and that they have sleeves; soccer jerseys can’t be tank tops. </p>
<p>Other rules are more detailed, like banning jerseys that have more than four colors, unless they’re striped or checkered in two equal colors – in which case the jersey can use five colors.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225156/original/file-20180627-112598-1xd0kvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225156/original/file-20180627-112598-1xd0kvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225156/original/file-20180627-112598-1xd0kvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225156/original/file-20180627-112598-1xd0kvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225156/original/file-20180627-112598-1xd0kvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225156/original/file-20180627-112598-1xd0kvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225156/original/file-20180627-112598-1xd0kvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225156/original/file-20180627-112598-1xd0kvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Croatian team’s jerseys feature a distinctive checkered pattern.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Russia-Soccer-WCup-Croatia-Nigeria/aa1135eb52d442848b12b9b886c835a1/69/0">AP Photo/Michael Sohn</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are also specific rules about the size and placement of logos – including the manufacturer’s own, and stars indicating how many World Cups a team has won – and player names and numbers. FIFA even specifies that both sleeves must be free of logos, to make room for its own event badges. </p>
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<h2>Satisfying the customer</h2>
<p>Following FIFA’s rules is a must, but the ultimate approval of each nation’s jersey designs comes from its national soccer governing federation. The manufacturer has the ideas, but the federation officials need to be convinced to go along with their new design aesthetics and performance innovations.</p>
<p>Often the sports product manufacturer will ask the soccer federations for a list of aesthetic and performance criteria upfront. Some countries have really detailed lists, perhaps governed by tradition or superstition. Others are more open to new ideas – like Nigeria, which approved <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/nigeria-world-cup-jersey-grail">striking designs by Nike</a> for World Cup 2018.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225158/original/file-20180627-112604-oxrcyz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225158/original/file-20180627-112604-oxrcyz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225158/original/file-20180627-112604-oxrcyz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225158/original/file-20180627-112604-oxrcyz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225158/original/file-20180627-112604-oxrcyz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225158/original/file-20180627-112604-oxrcyz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225158/original/file-20180627-112604-oxrcyz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225158/original/file-20180627-112604-oxrcyz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Nigerian team’s home jersey was an instant hit among fans worldwide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://news.nike.com/news/2018-nigeria-national-football-team-kit">Nike</a></span>
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<p>Typically a jersey manufacturer will come up with a few ideas for each home and away jersey. Often they’ll include designs that look a lot like the team’s last World Cup jersey, others that are very different and still others somewhere in between the old design and a brand new one. The company usually hopes it’ll be allowed to create something at least relatively new, rather than just remaking a design from the past.</p>
<h2>The manufacturer’s design touch</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225362/original/file-20180628-117367-1cdqnvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225362/original/file-20180628-117367-1cdqnvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225362/original/file-20180628-117367-1cdqnvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225362/original/file-20180628-117367-1cdqnvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225362/original/file-20180628-117367-1cdqnvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225362/original/file-20180628-117367-1cdqnvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225362/original/file-20180628-117367-1cdqnvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225362/original/file-20180628-117367-1cdqnvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The French home jersey has a single buttoned collar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://news.nike.com/news/2018-french-football-federation-collection">Nike</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>The company making the jersey can add some design elements, too – but of course they must be approved by FIFA and the national federation. Some of these – like the neckline – are aesthetic features that may have a historical nod to each nation’s heritage.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225163/original/file-20180627-112604-ekc3fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225163/original/file-20180627-112604-ekc3fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225163/original/file-20180627-112604-ekc3fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225163/original/file-20180627-112604-ekc3fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225163/original/file-20180627-112604-ekc3fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225163/original/file-20180627-112604-ekc3fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225163/original/file-20180627-112604-ekc3fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225163/original/file-20180627-112604-ekc3fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Japan’s distinctive neckline sets its jersey apart from other teams’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.adidas.com/us/japan-home-jersey/BR3644.html">Adidas</a></span>
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<p>Other elements can combine appearance and function, like the cut and fit of the jersey, ventilation or how its materials handle sweat. There are also aspects of the design intended to deter counterfeiting; for the 2018 World Cup, many of the major sport manufacturers developed <a href="https://www.knittingindustry.com/nike-flyknit-a-seamlessly-knitted-running-shoe/">engineered knit jersey materials</a> that help with thermoregulation and fit, while providing a unique appearance that is difficult to knock-off without the exact machinery and programming skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225363/original/file-20180628-117374-13aqphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225363/original/file-20180628-117374-13aqphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225363/original/file-20180628-117374-13aqphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225363/original/file-20180628-117374-13aqphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225363/original/file-20180628-117374-13aqphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225363/original/file-20180628-117374-13aqphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225363/original/file-20180628-117374-13aqphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225363/original/file-20180628-117374-13aqphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nike has engineered a proprietary material it calls VaporKnit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nike.com/soccer/bootroom/t/2018-brasil-vaporknit-match-kit/">Nike</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The manufacturers will lab-test the materials, and then let elite players confidentially test the physical designs, on pitch, during training sessions. </p>
<h2>Protecting the design</h2>
<p>To curtail counterfeiting, some manufacturers will embed electronic tags in their authentic jerseys, making it easy to check whether a merchant is <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/fake-jersey-business-alive-and-kicking-despite-chinese-crackdown-1.2221100">selling real or fake products</a>. Many large manufacturers will have teams of inspectors shopping international markets, online and at shipping ports, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/29/us.counterfeit.goods/index.html">looking for counterfeits</a> and <a href="http://www.startribune.com/selling-of-knockoff-jerseys-leads-to-felony-charges/111970084/">working with local police</a> to shut down sales and exportation.</p>
<p>Total prevention is impossible, though – and it’s made harder when supplies of the real thing sell out. The Nigeria jersey <a href="https://www.thefader.com/2018/06/11/nigeria-world-cup-team-jersey">sold out</a>, making Nike a fair profit, but now it’s <a href="https://qz.com/1310114/nigeria-world-cup-jersey-the-economics-of-fake-kit-from-china-thailand/">making Chinese and Thai counterfeiters millions of dollars</a> too, because there are no more authentic versions available. When FIFA guidelines, federation and manufacturer desires align, new World Cup jersey designs can be an exciting part of the tournament experience for fans around the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98279/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan L. Sokolowski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>World Cup jerseys have to please players, national officials, FIFA rulemakers and – perhaps most importantly – fans who buy them to show support for their teams.Susan L. Sokolowski, Director & Associate Professor: Sports Product Design, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/967802018-05-17T05:06:16Z2018-05-17T05:06:16ZWhy are ‘feminine’ crafts like basket weaving disparaged by politicians?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219324/original/file-20180517-155616-1sty2ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Basket weaving is an important cultural and economic activity in many parts of the world, including Australia. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/imsbildarkiv/11854892393/in/photolist-j4zqur-7vPiDZ-9qB8rx-bEqzBG-9r1uPX-crMaSY-7vSJGs-8ohFb8-D6fcN-D6eXr-D6get-s1cCzT-6JGM6x-2Ht6YR-CyAqX-hLB1BA-2Ht7vB-fiiSey-bX2Tsr-9Z4tjD-5hev7k-6yD5Yr-bAMcGX-f2rRXo-69r3AA-fLYjLk-aP5gdc-UeFxZf-7BfKqM-6vrSpu-q4b7wa-4aTfkr-j5qkAv-jNrjzi-pYWfxz-8Sbc57-jNrjKD-79HNgS-azxyPR-4HeEEd-7wn55R-5ko9vk-6Tw1Et-aAJNpA-gCNYsY-9dnLFK-dPcEuT-n9ULcR-bq5W4V-3fwEgQ">IM Swedish Development Partner/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Basket weaving. It doesn’t sound much of an insult does it? But Education Minister Simon Birmingham appeared to use the term in this way in an interview following opposition leader Bill Shorten’s budget reply speech. <a href="https://www.senatorbirmingham.com.au/doorstop-interview-adelaide-33/">Birmingham reacted disdainfully</a> to Shorten’s commitment to fund fees for TAFE students, sneering at Labor’s “disastrous VET FEE-HELP program that subsidised everything from energy healing to basket weaving.” </p>
<p>Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen described this comment as <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/federal-government-insulting-tafe-labor">an insult to TAFE teachers</a>. Bowen is right, of course. But more than that, this insult derives its power from denigrating and trivialising crafts traditionally practised by women. By extension, it denigrates women themselves.</p>
<p>It calls to mind a similar jibe <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/mar/18/marriage-equality-peter-dutton-singles-out-alan-joyce-in-fresh-attack-on-ceos">delivered by home affairs minister Peter Dutton</a> during the gay marriage debate in March last year, when he told leading Australian company CEOs who urged government action on the issue to “stick to their knitting”. Three days later, Greens senator Janet Rice pulled out her knitting and worked on a rainbow-striped scarf during question time.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/craft-in-australia-lets-not-forget-the-real-value-of-the-handmade-42168">Craft in Australia: let's not forget the real value of the handmade</a>
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<p>Why is it that when dredging for an insult, male politicians turn to traditionally female crafts? It seems their gendered nature, pigeonholed as women’s hobbies - mundane and domestic, unpaid and undervalued - makes them suitable targets for ridicule. We don’t see such sneers at woodwork, metalcrafts or other “manly” pursuits.</p>
<p>Oppressive attitudes towards women have engendered such characterisations of their leisure pursuits. In 1986 feminist theory pioneer <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=27TrCuk4LRgC&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=In+virtually+all+cultures,+whatever+is+thought+of+as+manly+is+more+highly+valued+than+what+is+thought+of+as+womanly&source=bl&ots=qDgsyp3HUV&sig=hnNI3zdTysuXyzGNfptI9ZmDFKs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwieuvjjr4vbAhVNO7wKHUVBCa0Q6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=In%20virtually%20all%20cultures%2C%20whatever%20is%20thought%20of%20as%20manly%20is%20more%20highly%20valued%20than%20what%20is%20thought%20of%20as%20womanly&f=false">Sandra Harding wrote</a>: “In virtually all cultures, whatever is thought of as manly is more highly valued than what is thought of as womanly”. More than 30 years on, the insults from Birmingham and Dutton illustrate that this view is as pertinent today.</p>
<p>Birmingham’s comment also marginalises and undermines the merits of the highly skilled craft of basket weaving, which has a rich history, including in Aboriginal culture. Created with extraordinary dexterity and patience, items that once served utilitarian purposes, such as carrying food or even babies, are today preserved as museum pieces. </p>
<p>Such weaving “expresses cultural identity and traditions that date back tens of thousands of years”, the <a href="http://aiatsis.gov.au/news-and-events/events/weaving-culture-market-day">Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies</a> says. Baskets carried by figures and ancestor spirits have been depicted in Arnhem Land rock art dating back more than 40,000 years. </p>
<p>Home to some of Australia’s finest fibre works, the <a href="https://maningrida.com/artworks/weavings/about-weaving/">Maningrida region’s Arts and Culture website</a> notes: “There are also spiritual dimensions to weaving, which vary according to the materials used and the totemic significance of the object made.”</p>
<p>Curator Dr Kevin Murray, former artistic director of Craft Victoria, now an adjunct professor at RMIT University and editor of online craft publication Garland, reacted angrily to Birmingham’s insult. “Sure, basket weaving can thrive in Australia without TAFE support, but we need to address the way it is often demeaned as an art form by men in suits. What’s more meaningful: adding up figures in a spreadsheet or weaving objects for people to use that reflect a relation to the land and tradition?” he posted on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/craftinaustralia/">Craft in Australia Facebook page</a>. </p>
<p>Two days later on that page, the World Crafts Council – Australia posted a notice of the National Basketry Gathering 2019 in South Australia with the comment, “Basket-makers stand proud!”</p>
<p>The inference attending the Birmingham insult is that basket weaving is a waste of money, while Dutton’s message is essentially that the CEOs should mind their own business and concentrate on what they know. </p>
<p>Many women are very familiar with the message of “don’t bother your pretty little head with that”. Yet crafts are increasingly recognised as appropriate subjects for scholarship. Finnish design <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12130-007-9028-2">scholar Maarit Makela</a> has noted that “the making and the products of making are seen as an essential part of research”. They are “strongly connected with the source of knowledge. In this sense we are facing the idea of knowing through making.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/knit-one-purl-one-the-mysteries-of-yarn-bombing-unravelled-23461">Knit one, purl one: the mysteries of yarn bombing unravelled</a>
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<p>Also worth noting is that a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01612840.2016.1230160?journalCode=imhn20">significant body of research</a> has confirmed what crafters have long known – that their crafts have mental health benefits. Craft has been found to enhance wellbeing – indeed some psychologists prescribe knitting for their patients. </p>
<p>Crafts also promote social connections, a counter to the loneliness and social isolation of contemporary life. Even trauma can be eased by participating in them, researchers have found. “The analysis revealed that feelings of agony or pain could be pushed away and turned into bodily activity or symbolic imagery by hand work,” writes <a href="https://www.nrpa.org/globalassets/journals/jlr/2015/volume-47/jlr-volume-47-number-1-pp-58-78.pdf">Finnish researcher Professor Sinikka Pollanen</a>.</p>
<p>Increasingly, craft practitioners are using their skills for other purposes than the purely decorative or utilitarian. They are actively protesting aspects of society – the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/knag-power-knitting-nanas-on-the-march-against-fracking-polluters-20170831-gy824u.html">Knitting Nannas</a> who oppose coal seam gas exploration or <a href="https://theconversation.com/knit-one-purl-one-the-mysteries-of-yarn-bombing-unravelled-23461">yarn bombers</a> enhancing desolate urban landscapes, for example. While some men are using craft to buck the gender stereotypes, for activist women it’s a means of drawing attention to and rebelling against the restrictions placed on them because of their gender. The message: craft matters; we matter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Green is a member of Victoria’s Handknitters Guild and member of Craft (formerly Craft Victoria).</span></em></p>Basket weaving and knitting are used pejoratively to make a point but not ‘manly’ pursuits such as metalcrafts or woodwork.Sue Green, Deputy Director, Journalism Program, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/954872018-04-26T10:39:31Z2018-04-26T10:39:31ZHow transshipment may undercut Trump’s tariffs<p>President <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-prime-minister-lofven-sweden-joint-press-conference/">Donald Trump is vowing</a> to crack down on deceptive transshipment. That is the practice of moving cargo from one country to another by way of a third nation to evade trade restrictions. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9_99Y6kAAAAJ&hl=en">international economist</a>, I have researched the impact of imported textiles and apparel on those industries in North Carolina over the last 20 years. Based on this recent history, I believe it will be hard for Trump to succeed. </p>
<h2>Indirect routes</h2>
<p>Not all transshipments are intentionally misleading. For example, a car shipped from Stockholm, Sweden, to Montreal, Canada, may first travel to New York City’s port, before being transferred to another boat, a train or a tractor-trailer for the NYC-Montreal leg of the trip.</p>
<p>These indirect routes <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8MtLHcYnWCGZU8zbnB0cVN2VlE/">can reduce</a> costs when they let shipping companies move more freight on their busiest routes.</p>
<p>But the Trump administration claims something else is going on with Chinese steel. Washington is accusing Chinese steelmakers of routing their U.S.-bound product through <a href="https://www.commerce.gov/sites/commerce.gov/files/the_effect_of_imports_of_steel_on_the_national_security_-_with_redactions_-_20180111.pdf,%20Appendix%20L">Vietnam and other Asian countries</a> to avoid existing tariffs on Chinese steel. That could become even more of a problem if the administration goes ahead with plans to impose new <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/03/08/591744195/trump-expected-to-formally-order-tariffs-on-steel-aluminum-imports">25 percent tariffs</a> on Chinese steel. </p>
<p>Federal rules of origin allow importers to say goods hail from a given country as long as they were “<a href="https://www.cbp.gov/document/publications/rules-origin">substantially transformed</a>” there. Slapping a “made in” label onto a steel slab doesn’t satisfy this criterion, while rolling that steel into finished pipes in that country definitely does. In practice, determining what qualifies as enough transformation requires exercising discretion that is hard to make objective or translate into clear and fair rules.</p>
<p>Asian officials insist that the Chinese steel now irking the Trump administration is being processed before being designated as a different product and purchased by U.S. manufacturers as “made in Vietnam” or another country. </p>
<h2>A precedent</h2>
<p>The Trump White House isn’t the first to suspect China of transshipping to dodge trade barriers. In the early 1990s, the U.S. subjected textiles and apparel imported from China and other emerging economies to annual quotas under the <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/agrm5_e.htm">Multi-Fiber Agreement</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, according to a Chinese-U.S. research team, <a href="https://hctar.seas.harvard.edu/files/hctar/files/gs01.pdf">these Chinese products</a> were often transshipped to the U.S. via Hong Kong. While the <a href="http://otexa.trade.gov/twgrep.pdf">U.S. Customs Service</a> tried to detect and crack down on this practice, that proved a <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/250/241271.html">daunting task</a>.</p>
<p>Deceptive transshipments violate international law, but are costly and hard to stamp out. I believe efforts to do so will also discourage imports that are valuable to U.S. consumers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Conway does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This speed read explores why it’s hard to stop manufacturers in specific countries from dodging trade barriers by pretending that their goods come from somewhere else.Patrick Conway, Professor of Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.